Emotional Aftermath
by FlyWithDamagedWings
Summary: **This fanfic contains original characters** Katalina, a Fire Nation girl who's always been against the war, found herself living in Ba Sing Se after arriving with the Colonials. Now the war is over, though, yet she quickly finds herself thrown into another war against her own emotions once she reunites with Zuko after three long years. - Cover Image by Ninjatic on deviantArt
1. Prologue: The Colonies

"You're shipping me off to the Fire Nation Colonies?" Katalina Palmer exclaimed. "No! You have got to be kidding me?" She was outraged. "This is ridiculous! You really can't stand me that much?"

"You're a nuisance," Mrs. Palmer responded.

"This war is a nuisance!"

"This war will be over soon and Fire Lord Ozai will reign over the entire world," Mr. Palmer declared.

Katalina shook her head in disbelief. "You're disowning me?"

"You make this family look bad," Mrs. Palmer stated. "We have no other choice."

"Ever since I was ten you've ignored me and now the first time you two acknowledge me in years you're telling me that you're getting rid of me," she clarified. "And I'm the bad child? Whereas you two aren't being awful parents?"

"Do not disrespect us," Mr. Palmer warned.

"What are you gonna do? Burn me? You can't! I'm the only bender in this family."

"And you had so much potential," Mrs. Palmer said. "But you chose to throw it away in attempts to end the war on the Avatar's side."

"This is ridiculous!" Katalina repeated. "What the hell am I supposed to do in the Fire Nation colonies?"

"You can figure that out for yourself once you get there," Mr. Palmer replied. "As of this evening, you're no longer our business."

"I have to be gone by tonight?"

"Fire Lord Ozai wants you gone as soon as possible," he told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course he does."

"Just think of it this way," Mrs. Palmer began, "this is one more thing you now have in common with your best friend."

Katalina's face darkened. "You know what? I'll be better off in the Colonies. I'll be better off in Ba Sing Se. I'll be better off away from you two and this hellhole. At least in Ba Sing Se I'll be able to make a difference. I'll have followers and people who'll want to help me fight against the Fire Nation."

Both of her parents laughed in her face.

"If you think anyone will be brave enough to stand against the Fire Nation then you're more naïve than we thought," Mrs. Palmer said.

"And you're naïve to think that Ozai has a chance at winning this war. Actually, I'd say that transcends over to ignorance."

"Get out," Mr. Palmer suddenly demanded with a low voice. "You are no longer welcome here."

"Didn't realise I was ever welcome to begin with," she said back. She then exited the house that was never a home to her. "Good riddance."


	2. Chapter One: The White Lotus Society

"To victory!" sixteen-year-old Katalina Palmer yelled to the crowd in front of her, holding her fist high over her head. The crowd echoed her words and held their fists over their heads as well. Then the crowd burst into cheers and laughter. "One hundred long years later and the Fire Nation has finally fallen," Katalina added, speaking to herself.

She had been in Ba Sing Se for only a couple of months. She had arrived with the Fire Nation Colonies, but quickly dispatched from them. After all, she didn't want anything to do with them. During her time instead, she gathered some citizens and formed a rebellious group: The Resistors. They fought the Colonies anytime they had the chance and they were always able to get away. Some were injured along the way, but no one was ever captured. But the moment of truth of their courage came when Sozin's comet did and the citizens followed through. Now the way was finally over.

She couldn't be happier.

"Lina!" she then heard seventeen-year-old Yolanda shout. She appeared out of the crowd, along with four other people she had met in the city. They all rushed up to her. "Victory is so much sweeter than I thought!" Yolanda exclaimed, her hazel eyes glistening with excitement.

"Probably because we actually played a part in fighting the Colonies," sixteen-year-old Hakara added. Her dark green eyes were shining.

"I have to admit," fifteen-year-old Jin started, "I had my doubts at first. But we actually did it." She smiled, her pale green eyes calm.

"Of course we did!" Katalina said back. "We're the Resistors!" she then shouted so that everyone could hear her. More cheers sounded off from the crowd and the six friends laughed.

"You know, I used to have a group of my own called the Freedom Fighters," seventeen-year-old Jet stated, wiping his brown hair out of his face, "but I think I enjoy being a Resistor much more. The Freedom Fighters also didn't accomplish nearly as much."

"It must've been nice to not have to be a leader, too," Yolanda figured. "We girls made all the rules for this group!" She laughed some more.

Jet joined in. "Yeah, I guess that was pretty nice," he admitted. "But what can I say? You four made pretty damn amazing leaders."

"The hell they did," Shion agreed. He ran his fingers through his brown hair. "I mean, between the four of them there's the fighter," he gestured to Katalina, "the strategist," he gestured to Hakara, "the excellent speech giver," he gestured to Yolanda, "and then the brains behind it all," he finished with putting a hand on one of Jin's shoulders. "So the four of you made the perfect combination."

"Oh, thank you!" Hakara replied, smiling. "That's so sweet of you, Shion." She laughed.

"I'd hate to break this up, but I have to go find my father," Jin then called over all the cheers. "I'll see you five at some point tomorrow!" She then made her way through the crowd, her long, dark brown braided hair quickly disappearing.

"You know, I should probably get home, too," Hakara figured. "I need to celebrate with my actual family now." She turned and followed Jin's lead through the crowd, her light brown hair swaying over her shoulders.

"I'll go celebrate with anyone I can find!" Shion decided. "This is something worth celebrating with every stranger. Tonight, we're all acquaintances and friends!" He winked one of his hazel eyes before also disappearing.

"I guess that leaves you and me," Katalina said to Jet. "Unless you have people as well."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you even know me at all?"

She chuckled at this. "I know, I know." She then let out a sigh.

"What's wrong? Upset that your parents aren't here so you can tell them how you proved them wrong?"

"Please, I never wanna see them again," she replied. "I think I'm just tired."

"Tired?"

"Hey, I did a lot of fighting tonight!"

"We all did!" he pointed out.

"Firebending takes a lot out of me."

"Let's get home, then," he suggested.

"No, I don't wanna cut your night short."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Just don't be too late."

"Okay." He began to leave.

"And don't get into any trouble!" she called after him.

"I wouldn't be talking!" he called back.

She laughed again as she watched him hurry away. She then turned and made her way to their apartment.

The streets of Ba Sing Se were full of boisterous sounds and people. Katalina felt at peace with herself. And she acknowledged every person who acknowledged her. She was content. She had no reason not to be.

Until she arrived at the apartment.

Her good feeling instantly went away when she saw that the door had been broken down. She produced a ball of fire in her hand before charging into the apartment. When she got inside, she froze at the sight of four older men in blue robes just standing in the middle of the living space. None of them looked like they were dangerous, though. Or at least they didn't look as if they wanted to hurt or attack her.

"Are you Katalina Palmer?" one man questioned.

"Depends on who's looking for her," she responded as she dismissed her ball of fire.

"Yes, she is Katalina Palmer," another male voice said from behind.

She turned to see a familiar, shorter man coming out of the kitchen with a teapot. "Iroh?" she exclaimed with a smile.

He smiled in return. "It's so great to see you again, Katalina. It has been far too long."

"Iroh!" She hugged the man tightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard some people talking about this Resistors group in the city and overheard your name."

"So you figured out where I lived and broke into my house?"

"Basically!" one of the other men declared in confirmation. "I'm King Bumi of the city of Omashu," he then went on to introduce himself.

"I am Master Pakku from the Northern Water Tribe," the first man to have spoken continued.

"I am Master Piandao, the greatest swordsman in the Fire Nation," the youngest looking of the men went on.

"Oh, I've heard remarkable things about you," she cut in.

He smiled, nodding his head once in reply.

"And I am Master Jeong Jeong," the final man then introduced herself.

"Master Jeoong Jeong?" she repeated. She bowed to him. "It is such an honour to meet you! You've always been an inspiration of mine."

"Thank you," he said back.

"Do you all know the Avatar somehow?"

"I started the Avatar on his waterbending training," Master Pakku stated.

"I trained one of the Avatar's friends in the art of sword fighting," Mast Piandao continued.

"The Avatar tried learning firebending from me," Master Jeong Jeong began, "but he hadn't been ready at the time."

"And I've been friends with the Avatar since before he even disappeared over a hundred years ago," King Bumi finished. "And I'm still good friends with him to this day."

"That's amazing! But what are you all doing here in the city?" she then asked.

"We are members of the White Lotus Society," Iroh informed her. "We were helping the citizens take back their city just like your Resistors were." He smiled again. "I am so proud of you, Katalina."

She smiled as well. "I was just standing up for what I believed in."

"And you never gave up."

"C'mon Iroh, am I really one to back down from a fight?"

"Yes, you have a point there. But I'm still proud of you."

She shrugged. "I'm just glad that Ozai has finally been defeated. Almost upset I couldn't have been the one to take him out."

Iroh chuckled a bit. "It wasn't your destiny to do so."

"Yeah, yeah, it was the Avatar's destiny. I know." She paused, thinking. "Could someone go fix my door?" she then wondered.

"They all can," Iroh said.

The other White Lotus members headed for the front door to fix it without another word.

"It's been three years since I last saw you," Katalina spoke back up after a couple seconds of silence.

Iroh nodded. "I'm aware."

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to ask. "Is Zuko with you?"

He sighed now. "That's a discussion for another day. You look exhausted and you should rest."

"Iroh—"

"I'll stop by again tomorrow."

She swallowed hard. "All right."

"You don't live her alone, do you?"

"No, I'm here with a friend."

"Good." He went to leave. "Until tomorrow, Katalina."

"Bye Iroh," she replied. "Until tomorrow."


	3. Chapter Two: Rooftop

Jet returned to the apartment shortly after Iroh and the others left. Katalina decided not to mention them just yet. And since the door looked as if it hadn't been touched, she was able to get to bed without being interrogated or anything.

Sleep didn't come easily that night, though. This was a normal occurrence for Katalina. So she got up and made her way to the rooftop to do some stargazing. And it wasn't long before Jet joined her.

"The war is over," he announced his presence before laying down beside her. "Shouldn't you be able to sleep now?"

She chuckled a bit. "It doesn't work like that."

"Well that's stupid."

They fell silent as they continued to just watch the stars. This was Katalina's favourite thing to do. The night sky was the most beautiful thing to her. And all because of a single person.

"You really don't ever want to see your parents again?" Jet then broke the silence.

"Where did that come from?"

"As someone who doesn't have a choice, I recommend you get your ass to the Fire Nation to visit your parents. I would give anything to be able to see mind again."

"The difference between your parents and mine parents is that your parents actually gave a damn about you," she pointed out. "My parents disowned me. And now that I have proved them wrong I'm gonna say that they're really not gonna want anything to do with me."

He sighed. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. I don't need them. I have you and the others."

"You don't have any childhood friends from the Fire Nation that would still be your friend now?"

"Maybe one," she admitted. "There's really no way of knowing if I'll ever see him again, though."

"Track him down."

"I'm not sure if that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure if he would actually want to see me again."

"It's only been a couple months—"

"It's been three years," she corrected him, cutting him off.

"What?"

"The last time we saw each other was a little over three years ago."

His eyes widened a bit. "Why has it been so long? I mean, you only left a couple months ago. So why did you never see each other?"

"He had to…go away."

"Go away?"

"That's what I said."

"Why do I feel like something is missing from this story?"

"It's not a story and it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters."

"Jet," she sat up, "I didn't ask to be interrogated about my past."

"I was only trying—"

"You're not making me feel any better," she cut him off again.

"No, I was only trying to learn more about you," he stated as he also sat up. "It's been a couple months and it still feels like you're a stranger. And we live together! But you're just so damn private."

"And you should respect my privacy."

"Lina, c'mon, you gotta give me something."

"Why?"

"Because I'm your friend and that's what friends do."

She let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm just not the type to open up to people."

"No kidding."

"Don't give me that attitude; it won't help your case."

"Sorry," he mumbled.

She shook her head. "It just takes me a while to feel comfortable with a person. I mean, it's not like you're any more left in the dark than the others are. None of you really know me still. Don't you remember how long it took for you guys to learn that I was even a firebender?"

He nodded. "That's right," he recalled. "We didn't figure that out until the Day of Black Sun."

"And that was at least a month after I had met you all."

He thought for a moment. "I think I at least know you well enough to know that there's some sort of strategy to your madness."

She chuckled a bit. "Perhaps. Or maybe I really am just crazy."

"That wouldn't surprise me, either." He smiled. "C'mon, let's get back inside and try to sleep now."

"Give me a few minutes."

Jet nodded and got off the roof. Katalina stayed put, though. She lay back down and paid mind to the stars again. Then she noticed a shooting star. She sat up and closed her eyes. She didn't care how childish it may have seemed; she was going to make a wish.

"I wish for the aftermath of the war to be more beneficial than anything."


	4. Chapter Three: Discussion

When Katalina returned to her bed, she was able to fall fast asleep. And when she awoke the next morning, she found that Jet was already up and gone. She assumed that he was at the wall to help start to cleanup of the city. So she got ready to go as well. Right before she left, though, there was a knock on her door.

"Iroh," she said as she answered it. "Good morning."

"Good morning," he replied. "Were you on your way out?"

"I was."

"We'll walk together, then."

So she finished getting ready, and then the two of them were off down the street. They were quiet at first, but Katalina couldn't stand the silence.

"So what happened to Zuko?" she picked the conversation up where they had left off the day before. "And don't tell me nothing because otherwise you would've told me when I asked last night."

"Nothing gets by you."

She laughed. "So what is it?"

"Zuko has had some tough decisions to make in his life," he began. "After he was banished, he started his search for the Avatar right away. He wouldn't even give his burn time to heal. That was the least of his concerns, though. His one and only concern was regaining the honour he had so wrongfully lost. And so he searched for the Avatar for two long years. Then he finally rediscovered him. But it still wasn't that easy for him."

"When is it ever?" she muttered, interrupting the story.

"You're in the right place to say that," he continued. "But Zuko never seemed to be in the right place. So when the time came and he had to choose between the Avatar and Azula, along with his country, he chose to help his sister. He then returned to the Fire Nation with his honour and reclaimed his rightful place on the throne."

"Wait, he betrayed you?" she exclaimed, eyes wide. "After everything you did for him he just turned around and betrayed you?"

"You mustn't blame Zuko or be angry with him," Iroh said, "for it wasn't his fault. He was still very confused at the time. He was probably as confused as ever, in fact. The choice he made didn't last long, though. By the time the Day of Black Sun came, he had chosen a new destiny for himself."

"What do you mean?"

"For so long Zuko believed that his destiny was to find and capture the Avatar," he explained. "He never realised that he could alter his destiny, though. And when he finally did make that realisation, he chose to help the Avatar."

"So Zuko played a part in ending the war?"

"He did indeed. And right now he's in the Fire Nation probably getting ready to become the new Fire Lord."

"Fire Lord?" she repeated. "He's actually going to be the new Fire Lord?"

"Of course," he answered. "He is the next in line, after all. I just wish I had known you were in the city before Sozin's Comet came."

"Why?"

"Because Zuko was here at the time, along with the Avatar's friends."

"He was? He was here?"

Iroh nodded his head once. "I had no idea you had been sent to the Colonies. Quite frankly, I thought my brother would've kept you away from this place."

"Oh please, he would've much rather had me causing chaos here in the Colonies than in the Fire Nation."

He laughed. "I guess you're right."

"Plus, my parents disowned me and pretty much shipped me here."

Now his eyes widened. "They what?"

Katalina shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, I'm over it. I was over it before it even happened."

"You do know that you're allowed to feel hurt and betrayed, right?"

"I'm fine, though. Honestly."

He eyed her suspiciously. "If you say so."

She nodded. "So how does it feel to have helped Ba Sing Se? I mean, the first time you had come here it was to seize it for the Fire Nation. And now you helped the city fight against the Fire Nation."

"I know. And I must say, I enjoyed helping the city much more than I had enjoyed destroying it."

Now she laughed. But the laughter didn't last very long. "When Zuko becomes, do you think he'll still come here?" she wondered.

Iroh smiled. "I know he will. Zuko and I came here as refugees before the Colonies had taken over, of course. But even though he didn't show it, I know this place grew on him. Plus, the Avatar and his friends won't be staying in the Fire Nation, and I doubt Zuko will let them return here without him."

"I am so proud of Zuko for helping the Avatar in the end," she then told Iroh. "I mean, he got his throne and his honour back, but he threw it all away again just to train the Avatar. That must've been really difficult for him."

"He claims it wasn't, but yes, I too believe that it was somewhat of a challenge for him."

"Yeah, but like I said before, when are things ever easy for him?" She sighed, pausing. "Do you know the story behind the Avatar's alleged death?"

"Yes. He was struck by Azula here in Ba Sing Se and everyone just thought he had been killed. Of course, Azula must've doubted this because she told Ozai that Zuko had killed the Avatar."

"So in case he was actually still alive, which he was, Zuko would yet again be seen as a failure."

"Exactly."

She shook her head. "Azula is too devious for her own good."

He chuckled a bit. "Oh, I hope Zuko will be back here in Ba Sing Se soon," he then said. "He would be so happy to see you again."

She tried to smile, but couldn't manage it. "Did he ever mention me after you two left?"

"More than once," he answered. "Despite the fact that you weren't around, you still influenced a good amount of his decisions."

That comment popped the smile onto her face. "So do you think Zuko and I will still be able to be best friends? Even after these three years of change?"

"If there's one thing that hasn't changed, it's the relationship between you and Zuko. If anything, this separation has probably brought the two of you even closer together."

"How is that possible?"

"Anything is possible. Zuko did train the Avatar after all."

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right," he responded. "I'm always right."

She laughed some more. "Well, apparently this victory has gone straight to your head!"

He laughed along with her. "Looks like you're always right, too."

They continued to laugh together before falling silent.

"So you'll be staying in Ba Sing Se as well?" Katalina spoke up again.

"Yes, of course. I own a teashop here in the city called the Jasmine Dragon. I'll be reopening it soon."

"Why am I not surprised that you have a teashop?"

"You shouldn't be. It's also the finest tea in all of Ba Sing See."

"Very impressive. I mean, I always knew you made good tea. But the best tea in all of Ba Sing Se? Now that's some really good tea."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He smiled again. "What about you and that group of yours, now? How many people were a part of the Resistors?" he questioned.

"A lot," she answered. "A good thirty people, at least, give or take."

"That's also very impressive. Then again, you have always been an extremely good inspirational and motivational speaker."

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit. Especially since I wasn't the speaker for the group."

"What do you mean?"

"I led the group along with three other girls I met here in the city."

"Oh, well, I'd love to meet them."

"I'm sure I could arrange that. There are also two guys from the group you'll have to meet. One of them is my roommate."

"Then yes, I certainly do have to meet him."

"Iroh, it's not like that."

"I don't care, he's still living with you either way."

She laughed. "Yeah, yeah…"

"Oh, and what exactly did the Resistors do?"

"We battled against the Colonies. We started riots and protested against them and just had all these surefire tactics to piss them off."

"Knowing you, insults were part of these tactics."

She smiled unsurely. "They make it so easy."

He shook his head at her, but he was chuckling. "Zuko will love hearing about all of this."

"It'll be almost weird seeing him again," she admitted. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle it."

"Stop, you'll be fine," he assured her. "Plus, you have some time to settle yourself and prepare yourself for his arrival."

"True enough." She paused. "Well, I really gotta get to the city's wall now to start helping with the cleanup," she then changed the subject. "When will I see you next?"

"Drop by the Jasmine Dragon with your friends at some point this week," he replied. "You'll see me then."

"Sounds good," she said. "Bye Iroh."

She departed to make her way for the wall. And for what was left of the walk, she was left thinking about her old best friend.

What happens to an old friendship in a new future?


	5. Chapter Four: Mixed & Mingled

It wasn't until a couple days later that Katalina decided to finally introduce the others to Iroh. So she woke up early that morning and found that Jet was also already awake.

"Wow, this is unlike you," he greeted her.

"Shut up," she replied. "I needed to catch you before you left."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"There's someone I know who would like to meet you and the others."

"Who?"

"He's a member of the Order of the White Lotus."

"The what?"

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "The White Lotus Society."

"I have no idea what that is."

"Because it's a secret society. Either way, they want to meet you and the others. Or one member does, at least."

"All right, we'll go once we finish up work at the wall for the day."

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe we could just take a break today. I mean, it'd only be one day and there'd still be plenty more work for us to do tomorrow and every day after that."

"Yeah, I guess that'd be okay."

"Let's go get the others, then."

So the two of them got ready for the day, and then they were off. Their first stop was Jin's house. When they got there, they saw that she was already up and about, watering the plants in front of her house.

"Good morning, Jin," Jet greeted her.

She stopped and turned around before smiling at us. "Good morning."

"We're taking a break from rebuilding the city today," Katalina said back.

"And we're doing what instead?"

"There's someone who wants to meet you. I'll explain more once we have the other three so that way I don't have to keep explaining it over and over again."

"All right. One moment." She went back inside and returned a couple minutes later. "Let's go."

Their next stop was Hakara's house. And coincidentally, as they passed it they saw that she was on her way out. She turned away from the door and saw her three friends and laughed. "I was just going to find you guys."

"Well, we found you first," Jet said back. "C'mon, Lina said that there's someone who wants to meet us."

"Is that so?" Hakara replied.

"It is so," Katalina confirmed. "So no working for us today. Besides, I think we deserve a nice little break."

"The hell we do," a male voice agreed from behind. They all turned to see Yolanda and Shion heading their way. "First all the fighting and now this," Shion went on. "I'd say we definitely deserve a break."

Yolanda laughed. "So what are we doing instead?" she wondered.

"Meeting someone," Jet answered.

"He's an old friend from the Fire Nation who also helped fight the Colonies and put an end to this war," Katalina explained to them as they continued walking. "He's part of the White Lotus Society and he said that he wants to meet you all."

"Oh, is this the same guy—?"

"No Jet, this is someone else," she cut him off.

"So he's another firebender that was against the war?" Jin clarified.

"Yes and no. He actually used to be the Fire Nation's greatest General. He's the man that almost brought down Ba Sing Se the first time."

Shion's eyes widened. "The Dragon of the West?"

"That would be him."

"I've always wondered what stopped him from overtaking Ba Sing Se."

"His son was killed in battle and he just…fell apart. It devastated him and he no longer wanted anything to do with the war."

"That's terrible," Hakara said. "That poor man."

"Yeah, I remember receiving the news that his son had died." Katalina shook her head, sighing. "Anyway…" she trailed off. "He has a teashop in the upper ring and that's where we're going."

"How does he already have a teashop?" Yolanda asked.

"He came here as a refugee before the Colonies took over and opened it then."

"What's the shop called?" Jin wondered.

"The Jasmine Dragon."

The rest of the walk was mostly silent. And when they reached the Jasmine Dragon, there were two men standing outside the shop.

"Is one of them the man?" Shion asked.

"No, those two are Master Piandao of the Fire Nation and Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe," she informed them. "But they're also members of the White Lotus."

"Good morning, Katalina," Master Piandao greeted her with a smile as the six of them walked up to them.

She smiled back. "Good morning."

"Iroh's inside with the others," Master Pakku replied.

With that, the six of them entered the teashop. There were only two more men sitting inside.

"Is he one of them?" Hakara checked.

"Still no," Katalina denied. "These two are King Bumi of Omashu and Master Jeong Jeong of the Fire Nation."

"Hello there, Katalina," King Bumi greeted her now. "And friends."

"King Bumi has been friends with the Avatar since before the Avatar even disappeared," she informed the others.

"Wow, you must be really old," Yolanda thought aloud.

King Bumi paused, staring blankly at her. "Obscenely," he then said shortly after a few moments of awkward silence. Then he started laughing, snorted, and continued to laugh loudly.

"If you're looking for Iroh, he's in the apartment upstairs," Master Jeong Jeong then let her know. "You can go right on up."

"Thank you."

So they headed upstairs. And finally, the next man they saw was indeed Iroh.

"Good morning, Katalina," he greeted here before even turning around to look at her and the others.

"I've brought my friends with me," she replied.

He stopped what he was doing and turned around, smiling. "Introduce me, then."

"This is Yolanda. This is Hakara. This is Shion. This is Jin—"

"You're the man who worked at that small teashop with your nephew," Jin recalled, interrupting Katalina.

"You actually remember me?" Iroh replied. "I must say I'm flattered."

She smiled. "How is your nephew?"

"He's the new Fire Lord."

"Fire Lord?" Jet repeated. "I knew you two were Fire Nation!"

"Yes, you were indeed right," he admitted. "I apologise for all the trouble we caused you."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up," Katalina cut back in. "You two," she pointed to Jin and Jet, "have already met Iroh and Zuko?"

"I met them on the ferry into the city," Jet told her.

"I met them here in Ba Sing Sa when they worked at this small, rundown teashop," Jin went on. "At the time, though, they had fake names." She shook her head, breathlessly laughing. "I had no idea I had gone a date with the prince of the Fire Nation."

Katalina's eyes widened. "You went on a date with Zuko?"

"They did," Iroh confirmed, laughing.

Now she laughed as well. "And how did that go?"

"It went really well. Until the end when he said that things were complicated, and then he ran off. But now that I know who he really is, it makes more sense."

"Hey, we're still lost over here," Yolanda spoke up, gesturing to herself, Hakara and Shion.

"Zuko is the son of Ozai," Katalina began, speaking quickly. "And Iroh here is Ozai's brother. When Zuko was thirteen, Ozai burned and disowned him because he spoke 'out of term' during a stupid war meeting when he shouldn't have. Then the only way he could regain his honour was to capture the Avatar—"

"For two years he searched," Iroh continued, cutting her off. "Things only ever got more and more difficult for my young nephew."

"You were talking about him, weren't you?" Jet then realised. He looked over at Katalina. "Your old friend from the Fire Nation was him?"

She nodded. "The Fire Lord's son was my best friend growing up and I was still against the war. And I always believed he would find his way and he did when he finally abandoned his throne to train the Avatar instead. But now he still has his throne." She paused. "Jet, how was he when you met him?"

He shrugged. "I don't have anything to compare it to," he pointed out. "But I mean, he seemed like an okay guy."

She nodded. "It's been three years since I've seen him."

"How have you gone that long without seeing your best friend?" Hakara asked. "That sounds dreadful."

"Not like we really had a choice."

"Why didn't you go with him?" Shion wondered.

"Ozai wouldn't let me go. For whatever reason, he wanted me to stay in the Fire Nation." She swallowed hard. "He really wanted to me to stay." He brushed her hair aside to reveal a scar on the back of her neck. "I told him I would be going and turned to leave and that was when he burned me."

Iroh's eyes widened. "He attacked you when your back was facing him?" He shook his head. "That's cowardly."

She let go of her hair. "Either way, I stayed. But that was when I really started being a pain in his ass. So then when the Colonies formed, he and my parents got together and decided to ship me off." She shrugged. "Talk about the one thing they did right for me."

"Let's talk about a not so depressing topic," Jin suddenly suggested.

"I agree," Yolanda stated.

"Wait, I have one other question," Shion said. "Were you and Zuko only best friends? Or were you ever anything more than that?"

Now Katalina laughed. "Oh, no, no, no, we didn't have any real feelings for each other."

"Are you joking?" Iroh asked in reply. "I'm pretty sure everyone in the Fire Nation expected the two of you to end up together."

"Shut up. That's not true."

"It is true."

"How would you know? We were only kids."

"People talk, Katalina."

She shook her head. "Don't listen to him. Zuko and I are nothing more than best friends. There are no deeper feelings."

"We'll see about that once he returns."

"He's coming back?" Hakara clarified.

"Eventually, yes, he'll be back with the Avatar. By the way, Katalina, who's your roommate?"

"I am," Jet answered.

"Of course. No hard feelings, right?"

He chuckled. "Nah. Any enemy of the Fire Nation is a friend of mine."

He smiled back. "Wonderful!"

"Oh, and what exactly is the White Lotus Society?" he then asked.

"The Order of the White Lotus," Iroh began, "is an ancient secret society. The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth," he went on with the explanation. "And, being a Grand Lotus, I sent out a call about a month ago about how some of the other members were going to be needed here in Ba Sing Se for when the comet came. So we gathered outside the city's wall, and then we waited to strike. And it was all worth it in the end." He paused. "Now let's return downstairs to the others."

And so the seven of them headed back downstairs to rejoin the other White Lotus members. Then they all spent the rest of the day just chatting and trading stories whilst drinking tea.

This was exactly what Katalina needed. She had fallen contently silent and began observing the others as they laughed and exchanged experiences. She couldn't help but to smile at the scene before her. Yet at the same time she couldn't help but to think about a certain boy she wished was also with her now.


	6. Chapter Five: Changes

Katalina decided to stay home the next day rather than helping at the wall again. She had slept well the night before, but she was still exhausted; she knew she wouldn't have the energy to do much work. So instead she just lounged around the house. And by early afternoon, there was a knock on her door.

"Iroh, how are you?" she greeted him as she let him inside.

"I'm well. You?"

"Exhausted." She closed the door. "What brings you here?"

"Is Jet here?"

"No, he's out helping around the city."

"Good. I wanted a chance to speak with you privately again."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, I just want to discuss Zuko with you."

She sighed. "What about him?"

"Can you be honest with me?"

"About what?"

"How you feel?"

"Iroh, come on, it's been three years since I last saw him! I honestly don't know how the hell I feel about him or how I will feel once I see him again! So don't come here asking me about him because that's not fair!"

"Please calm down, Katalina."

"It's not fair," she said again.

"What isn't fair?"

She buried her face in her hands. "The truth isn't fair."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know what the truth is," she started once she removed her hands from her face. "But I do know that the truth hurts." She took a deep breath and let it out exasperatedly. "I haven't seen Zuko in three years. Who knows how I feel about him or how he feels about me? No matter what, though, one of us is going to end up being hurt."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because Zuko and I both have awful luck."

"Luck has nothing to do with it."

She shook her head. "I'm not even sure what our friendship will be like when he comes back."

"If you two were best friends then, you two will still be best friends now. Nothing will be very different."

"Of course everything will be different! We've both grown up so much. We've both gone through all these changes and—"

"Good changes," he cut her off. "Changes that won't have an effect on your relationship with Zuko."

"You don't know that for sure."

"I know you and I know my nephew."

"But it's not that simple."

"Because you're making it more difficult than it needs to be."

"Well, not everything can be simple. Because if everything was simple by choice then nothing would be worth fighting for. It's not a choice, though. I mean, if I had told myself that fighting the Colonies would be easy, it wouldn't have made fighting them any easier. It still would've been just as difficult as if I didn't tell myself it would be easy. So don't tell me that I'm making it less simple."

"Please calm down," he replied. "I just fought the same war against the Fire Nation and helped put an end to it. So I don't need to start a war against you now."

"I'm sorry. I just get aggravated when people claim life to be effortless when life is the most painful thing to go through." She sighed. "You know, maybe it'd be better if we just stay separated."

"Who?"

"Me and Zuko."

"How would that be better?"

"That way I couldn't screw anything up."

"This is something you've always done, Katalina. For whatever odd reason you always doubt yourself. Don't get me wrong, you do have self-confidence, but you still second guess yourself when it comes to making important and crucial decisions. Like yours and Zuko's friendship that you apparently just want to let go of."

"That's not what I'm getting at," she denied.

"Well, you best figure it out because Zuko will be back in Ba Sing Se by the end of the week."

Her eyes widened. "What?" she exclaimed. "That's not enough time!"

"I can use the time left to prepare you."

"I'd rather just work on the city as a distraction."

"You do need to be prepared, though."

"Because things have changed, right?"

"Good changes," he said again.

"Right. Because the last time I saw Zuko he was off to go capture the Avatar. Now, three years later, he's coming here to Ba Sing Se as the Avatar's friend."

"Yes, that would be a good change."

"Even good changes can have negative effects."

"What could possibly be negative about that?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, he's also coming here as the new Fire Lord. The last time I saw him he was the banished prince."

"All right. How about you stop thinking about the changes? Instead think about what'll be the same. For instance, the way you two feel about each other hasn't changed."

"Exactly. We're both still just friends."

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "So long as you believe that you two will still be able to be friends, then yes, nothing has changed."

"No. You can't just deny that things have indeed changed."

"But you and Zuko will be the same. And isn't that what matters most?"

"I dunno. I guess…"

"Katalina, listen to me. The world changes just as people change. That's life. It's full of change, whether you want it to be or not."

"And that's what makes life the most painful thing to go through," she reiterated. "And it's the only thing we go through."

"Why do you think that? Why do you think it's the most painful thing?"

"I know it is," she corrected him in declaration. "Just look at me and Zuko. We have both been put through so much. I mean, with Zuko getting burned and disowned by Ozai. And then with me growing up in a country that started a war that I was against and my parents ignoring my existence because of that…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "Those are all things that are hard to deal with."

"That's true," he agreed, "they hard to deal with. But you and Zuko did deal with them. And you both managed to pull through in the end."

"And all the fighting has made us that much stronger."

"See? Everything has a reward, even if you don't realise it at first."

She smiled sheepishly. "I guess that's true." She let out another sigh. "I'm just glad this war is finally over. That's one change I'm obviously happy about."

"I would assume so."

"It's just that…" she trailed off again.

"Yes? What is it now?"

Katalina took a deep breath before looking Iroh straight in the eye. "What comes after war?"


	7. Chapter Six: Meeting New People

By the end of the week, Master Jeong Jeong, Master Piandao, Master Pakku and King Bumi had all departed to return to their homes. And Iroh officially had the Jasmine Dragon back up and running. Then construction on the city was still an ongoing project. Katalina, Jet, and Shion were all helping around the wall while Hakara, Jin, and Yolanda were helping out within the confinements of their own neighbourhoods.

"You know, I think I'm actually gonna miss those guys," Shion admitted as he, Katalina and Jet made their way for the wall. "They had such great stories and it was a lot of fun hearing them."

"We should go visit the sometime," Jet suggested. "It would get us out of the city, after all." He shrugged. "Maybe after all the construction is complete we could just travel the world."

"I'm not sure if we'd be able to get the girls to leave," Katalina replied. "This is their home."

"It's my home, too," Shion reminded her. "I'd be able to leave it."

"I don't think Hakara, Jin, and Yolanda would be able to, though."

"Then we'll go without them," Jet decided.

"You would leave Jin behind?" Shion questioned.

His eyes widened. "Shut up!" he yelled through gritted teeth.

"Whoa, whoa, what's this about Jin?" Katalina then asked. She smiled deviously. "Jet, do you have a little crush on her?"

"No," he lied.

"The hell you do! Why haven't you said anything to me?"

"This is why."

"C'mon, you two would be so cute together."

"Shut up," he repeated.

She laughed. "Fine. I'll drop it for now."

"Thank you."

The three of them fell silent as they continued on their walk. Soon enough, they arrived at the construction site for the inner wall. And they weren't even there for five minutes before an older man walked up to them and asked, "Are you Miss Katalina Palmer?"

"Depends on who's looking for her," she responded.

"The Avatar has asked about you."

Her eyes widened a bit. "Oh. Th-then I am indeed her."

The man nodded once. "Right this way." He turned and the three of them followed after him.

"This is exciting," Shion whispered.

"It'll be interesting, too," Jet added.

Eventually the man stopped and simply pointed. "The Avatar is right over there." He then walked away from them.

"Thank you!" Katalina called after him.

"You ready for this?" Jet checked.

She took a deep breath. "I always have been." She walked up to the group of five kids the man had been pointing at. Jet and Shion stayed behind for now. "Avatar Aang?" she announced her presence.

The five kids all turned around. "Katalina Palmer?" the young boy with the arrows replied.

She smiled. "The one and only." She bowed. "It's an honour to meet you."

He smiled back at her. "Likewise. And you already know my name, but these are my friends Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Suki."

"My friends are over there." She gestured behind her. "Shion and—"

"Jet?" Katara cut her off.

Katalina threw her hands in the air out of exasperation. "I swear, this boy knows everyone."

"Jet!" the Water Tribe girl repeated as she made her way towards him. The others followed suit. "Jet!" she said a third time as she threw her arms around his neck. "You're all right!"

Jet smiled, hugging her back. "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"You already know Iroh and Zuko," Katalina started to mumble. "You already know these guys. Is there anyone else you already know?"

He laughed as he and Katara separated. "No, I'm pretty sure this is everyone now."

"Wait, you know Zuko?" Sokka then questioned.

"Well, I don't necessarily know him," he denied. "I just met him and his uncle on the ferry into Ba Sing Se when they were undercover as refugees."

"No, they were not undercover refugees," Shion corrected him. "Undercover firebenders, yes, but not undercover refugees."

"Whatever. Semantics."

"What even happened to you after we left?" Aang wondered, speaking to Jet.

"We thought you were a goner," Toph added.

"So did I," Jet admitted. "But I was able to gather enough strength to get myself out of that underground place before the Dai Li destroyed the entrance, which was also the exit."

"So Smellerbee and Longshot actually abandoned you?" Katara realised.

"Who the hell?" Shion questioned peculiarly.

"Please tell me those weren't their real names," Katalina said back.

"That's beside the point," Jet replied. "Anyway, yes, they did leave me. But they didn't think I was gonna make it, either."

"Have you seen them since?" Sokka asked.

He shook his head. "No."

"What shitty friends," Katalina thought aloud.

"Yes Lina, because you're an amazing friend," Shion replied sarcastically.

"Excuse me, I am the reason Jet had a healthy recovery."

"This is true," Jet confirmed.

"She's still one to talk."

She rolled her eyes. "Either way, we met some of your other friends as well," she told the others. "Jeong Jeong, Piandao, Bumi, and Pakku."

"You did?" Aang exclaimed. "Isn't Bumi the best?"

"I wouldn't mind having him as a king," Shion admitted.

"The other three seemed pretty uptight, though," Jet pointed out.

"I don't even care," Katalina said. "I got to meet Jeong Jeong. He was practically my idol growing up."

"Why?" Suki questioned.

"Because of his story! He was the very first person to leave the Fire Nation army and live! He was an inspiration to me as a child."

"This is why I already don't understand how this chick and Zuko were friends as kids," Toph spoke up.

She perked up at this. "He's mentioned me?"

"Oh yeah, we've heard stories," Katara confirmed. "He told us all about how you grew up hating the war and whatnot."

"Where is he?" she then questioned.

"He already went to his uncle's teashop," Sokka answered.

"And Mai went with him," Suki added.

"Mai?" Katalina repeated. "Mai's here as well?"

"She and Zuko are dating," Aang stated. "So of course she came with us."

"They're dating?"

"Are you okay, Lina?" Jet suddenly checked.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Because you keep repeating everything."

"I repeated two things. That's not everything."

"Maybe we should just head over to the Jasmine Dragon," Shion suggested.

"We'll have to meet up with the others first," Katalina said. "So why don't you guys go and I'll catch up with you later?"

"I'll go with you," Jet decided.

"No, you'll stay with Shion."

"I'm not stupid, Lina. You're just gonna go back to our apartment."

"Jet—" she sighed, cutting herself off.

"Did we trigger something by accident?" Sokka wondered.

"No," Shion denied. "Lina's just odd."

"You guys go," Jet then told them. "We'll meet you there later."

"Follow me," Shion said.

The six of them then left. Once they were gone, Jet turned back on Katalina. "What the hell was that?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

"Bullshit. What's wrong? Don't you wanna see Zuko again?"

She paused. "He has a girlfriend."

Jet sighed out of realisation. "I thought you said you didn't like him—"

"I said I wasn't sure," she cut him off.

"You still can't be totally positive," he figured.

"I'm just still not ready to see him again."

"Well, let's round up the others and figure out what to do from there."

"You can round up the others," she told him. "I think I'm just gonna head back to the apartment."

"No, I'm not leaving you alone."

"I'll be fine."

"That's not the point."

She looked down. "Fine," she gave in. "Let's go." She started to leave.

"Katalina, you know that I'm here for you, right?" he checked before he moved anywhere. "That you can talk to me?"

She smiled for only a moment. "Talking is overrated."


	8. Chapter Seven: Denial

Katalina was walking at a very brisk pace, causing Jet to practically jog just to keep up with her.

"Lina, why are you freaking out so much?" he asked.

"I can't shake this feeling that Zuko doesn't know I'm here," she replied.

"Well, yeah, it's not like Iroh had any way of telling him. But now that he's back I'm sure Iroh has told him."

"Iroh didn't even mention Mai to me."

"Right. Who is Mai?"

"Someone else from the Fire Nation. She was friends with Zuko's sister, so I'm not sure how she ended up with the group. But she's always had a crush on Zuko ever since we were little."

"Much like you have?"

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks now causing him to run into her.

"I do not like him that way."

"Bullshit. If you didn't you wouldn't be freaking out so much."

"I'm freaking out because it's been three years."

"You're freaking out because you don't want him to see you as the same little girl, but you still want him to see you as that same girl."

"I really hate you right now."

"Why? Because I'm right?"

She rolled her eyes and started walking again. He continued to follow after her and keep up with her.

"C'mon Lina, there's nothing wrong with liking him."

"There is when he has a girlfriend."

"You don't know how serious it is, though."

"Did you not here me before? Mai has liked Zuko ever since we were kids."

"That means nothing when we still are kids."

"Oh, shut up."

"Avoiding him isn't going to solve or fix the problem."

"Who said anything about avoiding him?"

"You're not the only one who talks to Iroh."

Once again, she stopped dead in her tracks. He managed to stop himself before running into her this time, though.

"He told you about those conversations?"

"He's worried about you. He wants you and Zuko to be able to still be friends. He doesn't want you to let it all go."

"Why would he tell you?"

"He thinks you're closest with me."

"Why? Because we live together? That doesn't mean anything."

He shook his head at this. "Why do you feel the need to be so impossible all of the damn time?" He sighed. "That's another thing Iroh mentioned to me; Zuko was the only one who could ever handle you. And he said that was impressive since he could barely handle himself."

"Zuko didn't handle me. I handled myself."

"Not according to Iroh."

"Well, Iroh's wrong."

"Lina, I can already tell that you need Zuko in your life."

"You don't know anything, Jet. So don't even try to tell me what I do and don't need."

"Just let me help you."

"I don't need your help!"

"Well, that's a damn shame because I am going to help you."

"You can't!"

They fell silent, staring at each other intensely. Then all of a sudden, Jet began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Katalina questioned.

"I have no idea," he admitted once he calmed down. "What are we even arguing about?"

She shook her head. "This isn't funny." She turned to leave. "Go find the others and go to the teashop."

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Back to the apartment."

"Lina, he's gonna ask about you."

"So what if he does?"

He sighed. "Fine. What should I tell him, though?"

"Just bullshit something. Like I'm not feeling well or whatever. I don't know and I don't care."

"You don't care?" he repeated. "So I could tell him you didn't stop by because you found out he's dating Mai and that upset you?"

She turned back around and glared at him darkly. "That's not what I meant and that's not how I feel."

"Actually, I know what I'm gonna say to him," he then stated.

"You will not tell him that!"

"No, I won't."

"Then what—?"

"Don't worry about that."

"Jet—"

"I'll be back later tonight," he continued cutting her off. He then turned and began to walk away.

"If you tell him anything, I'll have the same conversation with Jin!" she called after him. Then she sighed. "What is wrong with me?"


	9. Chapter Eight: Reunited

When Katalina returned to her apartment, she went straight for her room. She fell onto her stomach on her bed with a heavy sigh. After a few minutes of stillness, she turned onto her back to gaze up at the ceiling. There was still at least half a day ahead of her and she had no idea what to do with herself. She couldn't go to the Jasmine Dragon. She didn't understand why, but she just knew that she couldn't. She wasn't yet ready to see Zuko again. Or his _girlfriend_. His girlfriend.

Why did that bother her so much?

She got back up. She needed to clear her head and distract her thoughts. So she left the apartment headed for a private place she had discovered in the city. It was her go-to place to lose control. And if anyone needed to find her, Jet new of the place. So he would know where to go.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

She arrived at the spot and sat down before doing anything else. She closed her eyes and began to meditate. That was something she hadn't done in a long while. Maybe that was her problem. She couldn't focus herself, though. And that was aggravating her even further.

She got back to her feet and took a deep breath. Then she began to firebend. That was her release. She hated fighting and she hated using her bending, but she did when she needed to. And right now she needed to. So she shot fire in every which direction. Her eyes were still shut, as well, so she had no idea where she was stumbling and how close she could be to getting hurt and accidentally burning herself. At that moment, though, she didn't care. So she just continued to firebend. Until, that is, she tripped over her own two feet and collapsed. Her eyes shot open as her body turned. But she put her hands out in front of her and caught herself before she could face plant.

She remained on the ground on her hands and knees as she worked on catching her breath. Her head was hanging between her arms until she pushed herself back so that she was sitting on her knees. She took a couple more deep breaths before jumping back to her feet and firebending some more. She was exhausted yet she still had so much more in her that needed to be released. So she decided to ignore the exhaustion and just keep going.

She kicked and punched the air all around her, this time keeping her eyes open. She punched left and kicked right, jumped up and crouched down. She began to spin, creating a tunnel of fire around herself. Her arms flung around herself and one reached out too far; she accidentally dipped her hand into the fire. She pulled her hand into herself, collapsing back to her knees, hunched over herself. For a few moments she rocked back and forth. Then she finally took a look at her bent hand; her fingers received the most damage. It was sure to leave scar.

After a couple minutes of rubbing her fingers in attempt to soothe the pain, she stood back up. She decided to finally make her way back home. When she arrived, she stopped outside the front door.

"Maybe I should just go to the Jasmine Dragon," she thought aloud, speaking to herself. "I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen? Zuko has to know by now that I'm in the city, so it's not like either of us would be caught by surprise." She paused. "Things could be awkward between us, though. Or we may not even get along anymore. It has been three years after all. And a lot has happened to both of us in these three years." Now she sighed. "What the hell am I doing to myself? I need to shut the hell up and just go and see what happens. That's the only way I'll get any answers."

With that, she started for the Jasmine Dragon. But she didn't get far at all for when she turned to head in the direction of the teashop she ran straight into another person and sent them both tumbling to the ground.

"I am so so—" Katalina began to apologise as she practically landed on the person beneath her. But she stopped when she saw who was beneath her. "Zuko?"

"Well, you've certainly gotten stronger," her old best friend replied. "You knocked me down just now without even the slightest effort."

She laughed breathlessly. "I am so sorry!"

"Yeah, I think you had started to say that already."

She continued to breathlessly laugh. "Hi."

Zuko smiled back at last. "Hi. It's good to see you again."

"You too." She paused and lost her breath even more so when she looked into his eyes. "I-I should probably g-get up now, huh?" she then spoke back up, stuttering a bit.

He chuckled. "Maybe."

So she went to get off of him, but he grabbed her wrist before she could really go anywhere.

"What happened to you?" he asked, having noticed her freshly injured fingers.

"I may have just burned myself by accident," she admitted.

"How the hell did you manage that?"

She shrugged, smiling uncertainly. Then she took her hand back and stood up. Zuko followed suit. And once he was on his feet again, he pulled Katalina into him and hugged her. She reluctantly hugged him back.

"Is something wrong?" he suddenly checked as he pulled away.

"No, it's just…you're not that same thirteen-year-old boy I saw sailing away three years ago."

"Well, that was three years ago."

"And I've been telling myself that over and over again and now it's like time has stopped." She paused before shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm just—" she stopped and smiled. "I missed you."

His smiled returned. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"I can't say the same for you. I mean, you ditched the ponytail." He nodded. Her smile widened. "I like it a lot." She ran her fingers through his hair and eventually came to a stop on his scar, her smile gone. His was gone, too, and his auburn eyes were now closed. "So this is what Ozai did to his son."

He took her hand away from his face. "I'm over," he stated. He opened his eyes. "I've put the past behind me."

"I'm impressed. You wouldn't have been able to say that three years ago."

"Well, I'm not the person I was three years ago."

"I'm quickly realising that."

A silence fell upon them. "So," he broke it, letting go of Katalina's hand at last, "your friends were telling me about the Resistors."

"So you did meet them already?"

"I did."

"You already knew two of them, though."

He swallowed hard. "I did." He paused. "How did you get Jet to trust you?"

"None of them knew I was a firebender until the Day of Black Sun."

"That's an odd day to find out."

"Yeah, but by the time he found out he already knew that he could trust me and that I was against the Fire Nation just as much as he was."

"I see." He nodded. "That was the day I told my father I was going to find and join the Avatar."

"How'd that go?"

"Not well."

She chuckled a bit. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"It shouldn't."

"And Mai."

"What about her?"

"She's your girlfriend."

"She is."

"You two are good for each other."

"Thanks, I think so, too."

"I figured as much." She thought for a moment. "So what made you choose the Avatar over your country?"

"I realised that the war had made the rest of the world hate the Fire Nation instead of look up to it. I mean, Sozin wanted to start the war to show the rest of the world the Fire Nation's success and power, but it obviously didn't turn out that way. And I knew it was time for the world to start anew with an era of peace."

"Did Iroh just possess you?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I know, he got to me."

She smiled. "Nothing wrong with that. But it took you three years to come to that realisation?"

"Sorry I'm not as quick as you."

"That's not what I meant at all, Zuko."

"Look Katalina, I'm sorry that I used to think differently from you, but you should leave the past behind."

She looked at him in slight shock. "Where did that just come from?" she asked in response. "I mean, I have left the past behind. I grew up in the Fire Nation and I've accepted that. My parents disowned me and shipped me off to the Colonies to fend for myself and I've accepted that as well. I'm not holding any sort of grudge so I don't know what you're talking about."

"Wait, your parents did that to you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's whatever. If they hadn't I wouldn't have had the chance to form the Resistors."

He thought for a moment. "You seem angry."

"And that's coming from someone who used to blowup over every little thing," she said back

"Okay, that was uncalled for." He shook his head. "What is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem."

"No, Katalina, something is wrong."

"Bullshit. Nothing is wrong, Zuko. It's just that it's been three years since we last saw each other. We've both changed in so many ways. I don't think we know each other as well as we used to. We can't. You don't know me as well."

"Oh, and I supposed Jet knows you better than I do?"

"Excuse me? What the hell do you mean by that?"

He sighed, closing his eyes. "Nothing. I didn't mean to say that."

"You did say it, though. So what did it mean? Do you have a problem with me being friends with Jet?"

"Well, he did try to have me and Uncle arrested."

"That's not my problem, so don't take it out on me." She sighed out of frustration. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"What was a bad idea?"

"Seeing you again. I just knew it wouldn't go well." She covered her face with her hands. They fell away after a couple short moments. "It's been way too long."

"What does that matter?"

"It matters because we seem to be completely different people now. I mean, damn it, you're the Fire Lord now!"

"So what? I'm still me."

"But things just aren't the same as they were before."

"You're right," he agreed. "Things are better than they were before."

"Just because the war is over, doesn't automatically mean things are better. It only means that the world gets the chance to start over from the beginning."

"And the world deserves that chance."

She thought for a moment. "Just make sure that the next time you leave for three years," she met his gaze, swallowing hard, "you take me with you."

He nodded. "I can do that. I don't think I'll be going on any other three-year-long trips, though."

"Then just anywhere you go…" she trailed off and her gaze fell down. "I have to go now."

"What? Katalina—"

"No, Zuko, I—" she paused, "—I have to go," she then repeated. She turned away from him, but he grabbed hold of her hand. Her injured hand. She winced slightly and pulled it out of his grasp. "Stop."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that," he replied.

"No. Don't apologise." She massaged her fingers. "I have to go," she declared a third time. "Tell your girlfriend I said hi." And she hurried away from him.

Katalina didn't know how to feel. She hadn't been expecting that scene to play out that way. But now she knew that she was right; she hadn't been ready to see Zuko again. And she wished she hadn't bumped into him just then.

That was only one thing she had been right about, though. Other than that, she had been wrong after all.


	10. Chapter Nine: Advice

By the time Katalina officially returned to the apartment, Jet was also back. He didn't say a word to her, though. So she just retired to her room for another sleepless night. And when dawn broke, she could hear Jet shuffling about. She remained in bed until she heard him leave. Then she got up to prepare herself for the day ahead of her. Before she could head out, though, there was a knock on the door. And she knew it would only be one of two people.

"I had a feeling you'd be here," she said to Iroh as she let him in. "And if it wasn't you, it would've been your nephew."

"Speaking of my nephew," he replied without a proper greeting, "I would like to speak with you about what happened between you two yesterday."

"Of course he told you."

"Why wouldn't he?" He sighed. "He's concerned about you, Katalina."

"He has no need to be."

"He said that things started off fine, and then all of a sudden you become very upset over something."

"Well, I'm fine. It's just the fact that we really are two completely different people now."

"How so? Because you both have scars now? Because he's friends with the Avatar now? Because you've both made other friends? Because the war is over?"

"Stop!" she shouted.

"I'm just trying to figure out what's so different about the two of you. Because if you ask me—"

"No one did ask you."

Iroh gawked at her, a bit taken aback. "What is bothering you so much?"

"Nothing."

"Clearly something is."

"You know what, let's go with the friends thing," she then decided. "We've both made new friends. His friends are better for him as mine are better for me."

"Are you trying to say that you and Zuko aren't good for each other?" he clarified. "Good friends, I mean," he quickly added.

"That is what I'm saying."

"Why do you think that, then?"

She sighed. "You never mentioned Mai to me," she replied.

"Pardon?"

"You never mentioned that Mai would be coming here with Zuko and that they're dating."

"I-I didn't know," he said. "Otherwise I would have told you. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"It caught me off guard."

"What did?"

"Mai in general. That she's a part of his life now."

"Technically she's always been a part of his life."

"You know what I mean."

"Katalina, why did that catch you off guard?

She closed her eyes tight, taking a deep breath. "Because I thought that when Zuko returned here we'd actually have a chance to be together," she finally admitted.

"I thought you said—"

"I know what I said. I also know that I don't always say what I feel."

"Oh, Katalina—"

"I don't even know for sure if I definitely like him like that. It may just be jealousy due to the fact that Mai's dating him, but not the kind of jealousy that I can't have him because she has him. And I'm not even sure if I'm making any sense right now."

"Calm down," he told her. "Zuko and Mai breaking up may be the only way for you to figure out your true feelings for him."

"I'm not gonna break them up, Iroh. I'm not gonna mess with their relationship just so I can see if I maybe like him as more than a friend. That'd be selfish. Besides, Mai's been through enough while growing up."

"That's what I admire about you, Katalina; you're bigger than you seem. You put others before yourself."

"Why should I put myself first? I mean, my friends mean everything to me after all. They're literally all I have."

"And that's very respectable and endearing. But sometimes you still have to put yourself first."

"Wait, are you actually telling me to break up Zuko and Mai?" An offended look popped onto her face. "I will do no such thing! How could you even recommend I do such an awful thing?"

"Katalina, I didn't recommend you break them up," he reminded her. "You stole false words from my mouth."

She paused. "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "So what were you saying?"

"I was saying that sometimes you should put yourself first. Just because you do, doesn't mean you'll care for your friends any less than you do when you put them first. It's just that sometimes you need to provide for your own needs, no matter how selfish it may sound."

"I still don't understand where you're going with this."

He laughed a little. "I'm only saying that it's okay to think of yourself every once in a while." She still looked puzzled. "When was the last time you did something for yourself, Katalina?" he then questioned.

She opened her mouth to respond, but only closed it again. She started to think about the question, but couldn't must up a good answer. So she ended up just shrugging her shoulders.

"Exactly. It's all right to put yourself first sometimes. I know you want to help everyone out there, but you can still help yourself at the same time."

"Okay, I get it now. I'm still not gonna try to break them up, though."

"I'm still not telling you to. You just keep telling yourself that."

She leaned against the wall, her arms folded across her chest. "Well, I don't know what to do. How am I supposed to figure out how I definitely feel about him?"

"By spending time with him."

"Simple enough. So say my feelings for him are deeper than friendship, then. How could I be friends with him when he has a girlfriend?"

"By being his best friend like you always have been."

She sighed. "Admit it, that part isn't as simple."

"Only if you admit to overly complicating everything."

She shook her head. "I don't know why I bother with you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You just don't understand, Iroh. If I do like Zuko as more than a friend then I'm not gonna be able to just continue being only a friend to him. That'll hurt way too much."

"No need to psyche yourself out."

"I'm not," she denied. "I'm just trying to prepare myself for being realistic."

"Well, your realism is too pessimistic. And I'm gonna tell you again now to not think about what's changed."

"What the hell am I supposed to think about, then? How things were before we were separated? Zuko and I nowadays wouldn't even recognise one another from three years ago, or four or five years ago. We're just…" she sighed, trailing off. "We're just too different."

"I'm not telling you to dwell in the past. Stop putting words in my mouth."

"Then what are you telling me?"

"I'm only saying to bring the past into the future."

She paused. "You lost me again."

He chuckled a bit. "Bring that same friendship from the past into the present day and apply it to this situation."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"You can figure that part out on your own. You need to. I can't give you all the answers."

"And I would have to disagree with you on that."

He laughed. "Listen Katalina, the hard things in life are the things that carry the most value; they're the things that are always worth the pain and trouble in the end. So stay friends with Zuko may prove to be difficult, but it'll also be another one of those rewarding ordeals."

"Do I want to put myself through the sort of pain, though?" she wondered.

"What pain are you talking about?"

"The pain of possibly losing something I never even had."

"But you do have Zuko," he corrected her. "Having him as a best friend should be just as good as anything else."

Now she shook her head. "This is all so ridiculous."

"Your stubbornness is what's ridiculous," he stated. "Are you afraid?"

"Of course I am," she easily admitted. "He's the single person who knows how to handle me and I can't lose that because I can't even handle myself."

"Fear is what keeps us caged in," he then began. "But it also motivates us to break free. At this moment, your fear is motivating you to break out of your shell and put things right. And if you ask me, I'd listen to your fear."

"If you ask me, that isn't even close to what my fear is having me do," she denied. "And fear isn't a motivator. Fear is the emotion that keeps us from trying new things. It keeps us from doing what we want to do."

"That doesn't have to be true." He paused, thinking. "I'm sure Zuko was terrified when he stood up to Ozai to tell him that he had made the decision to join and train the Avatar. But Zuko went through with it and told him anyway because he didn't let his fear get in his way. Now imagine if he had."

"Controlling your fears is different than your fears motivating you," she declared. "When you control your fears, you let them decide what you do and don't do. When they motivate you, they let you do whatever you want to do, no questions asked." She spoke slower and slower as she finished that last sentence.

Iroh nodded, smiling. "And you just helped me prove my point."

"You tricked me!"

"But I didn't. I only told you what fear is and what it does. Then you practically confirmed it."

"Well, my fear is motivating me right now."

"Don't let it hold you back, then. Don't let fear control your life. I mean, don't you want Zuko back in your life? Don't you want to remain friends with him?"

"Of course I do. What kind of a question is that?"

"A good one. One that you'll need proof to show to me before I can believe that answer."

"What are you talking about?"

"Prove to me that you really do want Zuko to stay in your life. And you can prove this by talking to him and fixing the things that are broken."

"I don't need to prove anything."

"Then how do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because this is Zuko we're talking about! Why the hell wouldn't I want him in my life?"

"Because he's with Mai."

Her gaze fell to the floor. "Fine," she gave in. "I'll talk to him." She looked back up and met his eyes. "But I'll talk to him on my own time and without you or anyone else around."

"So long as you do talk to him. Then we'll all be happy."

"I doubt Mai will be happy."

"Don't say that. Just say that you promise to speak with him."

She nodded her head once. "I promise," she confirmed.

"Thank you." Iroh let out a heavy sigh. "I should get going."

"Yeah, me too."

"Feel free to stop by the teashop later on today," he told her. And he left.

Katalina closed the door behind him. She then turned and leaned against it before sliding down to the floor. "I could very well be in love with my best friend," she told herself. "My best friend who has a girlfriend," she added. She sighed, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly. "This is going to be more difficult than I could have ever imagined."


	11. Chapter Ten: Making A Choice

Later on that day, after getting some work done around the city, Katalina made her way for the Jasmine Dragon. She was going to talk with Zuko once and for all. What she was going to say to him was another story. An unwritten story, better yet, because she had no idea. All she knew was that she was going to sort things out with the young man.

She arrived at the teashop, stopping outside of the entrance. And just as she was about to walk in, someone said, "Katalina?" She turned to see Mai standing there. "Katalina, it is you." She smiled.

She smiled back forcefully. "Yeah Mai, it's me. And it's also you."

"Iroh told Zuko and me that you were here in Ba Sing Se almost as soon as we arrived," she replied. "Oh, you should've seen Zuko's reaction when he found out." She laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen him so happy."

Now she held back a genuine smile. "Really?"

"Of course! He was so excited. Then that Jet kid walked in and ruined the moment for him."

"Yeah, I heard about that story when he and Iroh saw each other again. So that didn't go well?"

She shrugged. "You know how Zuko can get."

"Right."

"But once things between them got situated and we met your other friends, he left to find you."

"And find me he did."

She paused. "It may not be my place, but—"

"Then don't finish that statement or question," she cut her off. "Just let me know if Zuko is here or not."

"He's in back. Why?"

"I'm here to talk with him."

"Oh! I'll go get him for you."

She nodded once in reply and Mai headed into the shop. "By the way," Katalina called after her, stopping her, "I'm happy for you and Zuko," she finished as she mustered up another smile.

Mai smiled back. "Thank you. I'm really happy with him." She then walked into the teashop.

Katalina turned her back on the Jasmine Dragon. She still wasn't sure if she should just come clean to Zuko or wait and see what happens. She didn't even know what to say to him. It was too late to walk away now, though.

"Hi Lina," Zuko greeted her as he exited the shop.

She faced him. "Hi Zuko," she said back. "Can we talk?"

"I was hoping you would want to."

The two old friends started walking away from the teashop, but they were utterly silent. Katalina looked at the ground while Zuko was staring straight ahead of himself. There was an uncomfortable air about them.

"How's your hand?" he spoke up.

She looked at her freshly scarring fingers. "It's okay," she replied. "Not my first time getting burned."

"You've been burned before?"

Her eyes widened, but she quickly erased the expression. "I meant, like, during training back when we were little," she lied.

"Right."

They fell silent again as they continued walking along. She was now playing with her burnt fingers and he was playing with a loose thread on his shirt sleeve.

"Look," she now broke the silence, looking over at him, "about yesterday—"

"You don't have to explain anything," he cut her off. "Honestly, I just don't want to hear it."

"I'm sorry," she told him anyway. "Okay? I'm sorry. I was caught off guard and I overreacted. But that's only because I was scared."

"Scared?" he repeated. "Of what?"

"Well, there's this thing called change—" she began, but she stopped when she noticed that Zuko didn't look too pleased. "What?"

"Can't you give me a straightforward answer for once?" he wondered.

"I was afraid of what has changed," she clarified. "I am afraid of change itself. I mean, when Iroh told me that you would be returning to Ba Sing Se, I was petrified of seeing you again."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't know how you had changed. I didn't even know how I have changed. And I didn't want to know how we both have changed in the last three years. But I knew that seeing you again would mean learning how we've changed. So I was afraid that the new you and the new me wouldn't get along or have the same relationship as the old you and the old me."

"Lina, we haven't changed as people, we've just grown up," he responded. "And nothing between us has changed," he then reassured her. "Despite the last three years we've spent apart, you're still my best friend."

"I still wish I could have gone with you."

"It was better that you didn't."

"How was it better?"

"I left to track down the Avatar, Lina," he reminded her. "I guess I was afraid that when I found him you would betray me."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you had always been against the war."

She shook her head at him. "I could never betray you, Zuko. That just wouldn't be possible."

"I'm glad to hear that." He chuckled a bit. "Well, how about this? The next time I leave, you could come with me."

"Where would we go?"

"Well, I'll have to check up on Fire Nation here and there."

"Wait, are you staying here in the city?"

"Only until Aang and I figure out what to do with the Colonies here."

"Then what?"

"Then I have to return to the Fire Nation and be the Fire Lord."

"You can't be the Fire Lord from here?"

He sighed. "Lina."

"Yeah, I know, I know…" she trailed off, also sighing. "A lot has happened in three years," she then stated. "How did Aang fight against Ozai?"

"He used the Avatar State."

"Did he kill the poor bastard?"

"He did not."

She looked disappointed. "Why not?"

"Because Monks don't believe that kind of stuff…or something."

"Then how did he defeat Ozai?"

"He took away his bending abilities."

Her eyes widened. "So you're telling me that Ozai can no longer firebend?" She smiled widely as he nodded. "That's freaking amazing!" she exclaimed. "Oh, and what about Azula? What happened to her sorry ass?"

"She seemed to have gone a little insane."

"Insane? As in crazy?"

"Yeah. She pretty much lost her mind."

"Well, that's really not surprising after the way her parents—"

"Hey!" he cut her off.

"Zuko, I know you loved your mother, but I'm sorry. She wasn't good to Azula. And Ozai put way too much pressure on her. Plus, she was only fourteen. She was bound to break eventually." She paused. "Where's Ty Lee gone off to? Why didn't she come back with you and Mai? Did she return to the circus?"

"No, Ty Lee is now a Kyoshi Warrior."

"Is that so?"

"It is indeed."

"That's pretty interesting." She thought for a moment. "And how exactly did you and Mai happen?"

He smiled at this. "I don't know," he replied at first. "It just sorta…happened. I mean, she did make the first move. But once I returned to the Fire Nation, things between us just began to fall into place."

"Right. And you fell back into line and into your throne next to the man who burned and disowned you."

Now he sighed. "Here we go again…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're getting angry at me again over nothing."

"I've heard the story, Zuko. I'm just upset that you actually chose Azula and Ozai over Iroh. That doesn't make any sense! Iroh was really the one who raised you as a true son after all."

"Is that really any of your concern? You weren't there. Besides, that's in the past now. And Iroh has forgiven me."

She shook her head. "Well, apparently I can't forgive and forget as easily as the rest of you can." She began to walk away.

"Hold on!" he called after her. "I never even did anything to you, Lina! So why do you keep getting so angry with me?"

"I don't know!" she admitted in exclamation. She covered her face with her hands. "I guess I just think it'll be easier."

"What will be easier? Us hating each other?"

She sighed, uncovering her face. "I'm just trying to protect myself."

"From me?" Now she shrugged in response, causing him to sigh. "That's not an answer, Lina. C'mon, this is the second conversation we've had in three years and you've managed to turn it into another argument!"

"Believe it or not, I don't mean to."

"Yeah, I can't believe that. You seem to be trying so hard to stay mad at me and to make me mad at you. I just don't understand why."

"Don't worry about it." She turned to leave.

He grabbed her wrist, stopped her. "I'm not letting you go until you tell me what the hell is wrong."

"Lina!" a male voice suddenly called.

They both turned to see Jet coming their way. Katalina inaudibly sighed in relief at the sight of him.

"Do you mind?" Zuko replied, releasing her hand. "We're kinda in the middle of something."

"And she's kinda needed elsewhere," Jet told them both. "Some urgent renovation shit going at the wall."

"Guess we'll pick this up where we left off later," she said to Zuko. And before he could respond, she and Jet were on their way. "They don't really need me over at the wall," she stated once they were a good distance away.

"Oh, of course not. Why the hell would they?" He laughed. "Please, I could pick up your distress signal from a mile away."

She laughed as well. "So I tried talking to him again and failed miserably."

"You know that you can be his friend without worrying about what it could do to his relationship with Mai, right?"

"You know that I really don't want to talk about this, right?"

"Lina, you have to figure this shit out."

"You think I don't know that? Because I do. And I still think Zuko and I would be better off just forgetting everything and not being friends anymore."

"Fine. Then stop being his friend. Let's see how that helps you."

"I'd be perfectly okay with it."

"Would you? You'd be able to walk around this city knowing he's here and being okay with not ever seeing him?"

"Didn't I say I didn't want to talk about this?"

"Since when do I ever listen to you?"

She sighed deeply. "It's just…not that simple."

"Maybe you two should sit down with Iroh so he can act like a mediator and keep things in a calm setting."

"I won't be able to talk to him if there are others around and listening."

"Then just go with your original thing and don't talk to him and stop being his friend."

"I can't decide if you're trying to help me or not."

"I'm just trying to be supportive."

Katalina looked Jet up and down before sighing again. "Fine. That's what I'll do, then. So I'm officially done with Zuko."


	12. Chapter Eleven: Girl Talk

Katalina awoke the next morning to see Yolanda, Hakara and Jin surrounding her bed. She sat up slowly, confused as to what was going on. "What are you three doing here?" she questioned.

"Zuko told us what happened yesterday," Hakara answered.

"And he came to us three directly," Yolanda added, "So we decided instead of letting Iroh talk to you that it may be better if we did this time."

"So here we are," Jin concluded. "Now tell us the truth."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Katalina denied.

"Don't bullshit us, Lina," Yolanda replied. "I mean, you've really outdone yourself this time."

"We just don't understand why you're doing this," Jin stated. "After everything we've heard about you and Zuko it just doesn't make any sense."

"Trust me, I don't understand this any more than the rest of you do," Katalina then admitted. She sighed, bringing her knees into her chest. "Shouldn't you three be out helping clean up the city?"

"No, no, don't change the subject," Hakara denied. "The city can wait. Plus, there are plenty of other people helping out."

"So talk to us and tell us what's wrong," Jin said again.

"Nothing's wrong!" Katalina exclaimed. "I'm fine."

"You know…Jet also talked to us," Hakara then informed her. "He told us what you plan on doing."

"And we're here to tell you that you're being a frigging moron," Yolanda declared. "Cutting Zuko out of your life isn't going to help you or him. I mean, what are you trying to prove?"

"I'm trying to prove that I have no feelings for him," Katalina admitted. "Because I don't."

"Are you sure about that?" Jin checked.

"Of course I'm sure."

"Really? Because I think you're trying to prove a lie."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if you truly didn't have any feelings for him then you wouldn't have any problems being around him and spending time with him. It means that you wouldn't be trying to keep him mad at you and make him hate you. It means that you're lying to yourself, but you're trying to make yourself believe that the lie is the truth after all."

The four of them fell silent for a while. Katalina hugged her knees and hid her face from the others. Jin's words were echoing in her mind and she hated them.

"And that's why she's the brains of the group," Yolanda spoke up.

"She has a point, though," Hakara agreed.

Katalina shook her head. "Fine, then I'll prove you all wrong instead."

"Do you realise how ridiculous you're being?" Yolanda asked. "And don't pull that same excuse out of your ass."

"What excuse?"

"The stupid one about change and all that bullshit."

She let out another sigh, releasing her legs and falling back again. She gazed up at the ceiling. "I'm afraid of getting hurt."

"You're hurting yourself by doing this," Hakara pointed out.

"Lina, whether you do like Zuko or not," Jin began, "isn't it better to have him in your life as your best friend than to not have him in your life at all?"

"I guess that's true…" Katalina trailed off. "I'm not sure if he'll be able to tolerate me through another conversation, though."

"Only one way to find out," Yolanda stated.

"And if I end up arguing with him again?"

"Don't," Jin said.

"It's not that simple."

"Only because you get off on complicating everything," Hakara declared.

"I do not!" Katalina denied, shooting back up. All three of them raised an eyebrow at her. Her gaze fell down. "Maybe I do."

"All right, now we're finally getting somewhere," Yolanda responded. "What can we work on next?"

"Next she needs to speak with Zuko and do it in a calm manner," Jin said.

"Because that worked so well the first two times," Katalina mumbled.

"Then make it work this time," Hakara replied. "After all, the third time's the charm."


	13. Chapter Twelve: Backstories

Once Yolanda, Hakara and Jin left, Katalina got out of bed and ready for the day. They had gone to work for the rest of the day, but she wasn't feeling up to it. So instead she headed for her secret spot.

When she got there, she followed the same procedure as always. She sat down and meditated, and then returned to her feet and began firebending. Again, she kept her eyes closed and just moved in every which direction. She didn't pay any mind to the space around her. Until she was suddenly stopped by another hand as she sliced it through the air. Her eyes shot wide open and she was expecting to see Jet standing in front of her.

It wasn't him.

"I feel like firebending with your eyes closed is how you burned your fingers in the first place," the Water Tribe boy said. The hand he had grabbed was the hand she had injured. "Am I right?"

She pulled away from him. "Sokka, right?"

He nodded. "Are you okay?"

"How did you find this place?"

"I may have followed you," he admitted.

"Well, don't tell anyone about this place," she replied. "The only other person who knew about it was Jet."

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret."

"Why did you follow me?"

"As Zuko's friend, I wanted to talk to you."

"I'll tell you now that you're wasting your time." She turned away from him.

"That's what you think. But I'm actually a very easy person to talk to." He smiled at her.

Katalina couldn't help but to laugh. "Well, I'm not easy to talk to." She leaned against a wall and slid down it with a sigh.

Sokka sat beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm fine!"

"Are you?"

"Yes! I'm just a little stressed out…and maybe a bit confused."

"What are you stressing about? What's confusing you?"

"There's just a lot going on in my life right now." She paused. "I feel as if there's still a waging war, but it's inside me."

"That's rough," he replied.

"Don't pity me."

"I'm not. Please, I don't pity anyone. I am not a pittier."

"That's not a word."

"No? Oh." He shifted his eyes for a moment. "So is this all because of what's been going on between you and Zuko?"

"You two are that close?"

"Well, he didn't really care about talking to Iroh privately; he would just talk about everything in front of us all. So they would talk, Iroh would give his advice, and then Zuko and Mai would fight."

"They would fight?"

"Yeah, something tells me Mai isn't very fond of you."

"She's not. Ty Lee was the only one I ever got along with. Azula and Mai couldn't stand me."

"It's understandable as to why Azula didn't like you," he stated. "But why didn't Mai like you?"

"Because Zuko and I were so close and she was jealous of that."

"So is her anger now still just jealousy?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps." She sighed. "Tell me about yourself and the others," she then changed the subject.

"Well, Katara and I are from the Southern Water Tribe. Katara was actually the last waterbender from the southern tribe."

"Wow! That's a true honour."

He nodded. "It is." He paused. "I, on the other hand, am a swordsman. I learned from Master Piandao."

"Yeah, he mentioned that he had trained one of the Avatar's friends."

"Yeah, I was that friend." He smiled proudly.

She laughed again. "That's an honour as well."

"Master Pakku is also mine and Katara's grandfather. It's a pretty recent thing, though."

"That's cool." She paused. "What about the two Earth Kingdom gals?"

"Suki is a Kyoshi Warrior," he started.

"Zuko told me that Ty Lee became a Kyoshi Warrior."

"She did," he confirmed. "Suki stayed with us, though, so I guess you could say that Ty Lee replaced her. Either way, she's an amazing fighter."

"And the other one?"

"Toph? She's a blind earthbender. But she's the best earthbender I've ever seen. She has this ability to send the vibrations in the ground—"

"—with her feet," Katalina finished for him. "Surprisingly enough, I've heard of that before. Never actually thought someone could learn the ability, though." She shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I was wrong."

"Well, you can't always be right," Sokka pointed out.

"No shit," she muttered. She shook off the rising emotion. "Oh, so how did you guys meet Jet?"

"When we first met him it was only Aang, Katara, and me. He was also a jerk when we first met him."

"Was? He still is a jackass."

He laughed. "He was worse, then. There was a small Earth Kingdom town near where his hideout for the Freedom Fighters was and it had been invaded with Fire Nation soldiers. So he and his Freedom Fighters were planning on blowing this dam near the town to wipe out the soldiers. The only problem was that it would've wiped out the townspeople, too, and Jet didn't seem to care about that."

Her eyes widened a bit. "What happened?"

"He blew the dam," he answered. Her eyes now widened completely and her jaw dropped. "I had gotten everyone out of the town just in time, though," he added, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.

She breathed in relief, her facial expression returning to normal. Then she smiled back at him, "Well, aren't you the little hero?"

He continued to smile. "It was nothing. I just did what I knew was right, even if it meant helping some Fire Nation soldiers as well."

"I really respect that, Sokka. I mean, you were willing to help your enemies in order to protect the ones that deserved safety."

"Well, it's not that I was willing to help them, but I do know what you mean." He cleared this throat. "How did you meet Jet? All I remember is you mentioning something about saving his life."

"Right. I met him within my first week of being here in Ba Sing Se," she began. "I had yet to meet the girls, so I was still on my own. I mean, Ozai and my parents shipped me here just to get rid of me. So it's not like I had anyone waiting for me or anywhere to go." She sighed. "Either way, I was out late one night sliding fliers into the homes of all the citizens who could help me form the Resistors—"

"Wait," Sokka interrupted, "how did you know who could help you and who couldn't?" he wondered.

"I snuck into the palace and found files on all the citizens in the city."

"Impressive!"

She smiled smugly. "I know. Anyway, while I was sliding fliers under the doors, I noticed a silhouette in the distance. The figure took a few steps toward me before falling to the ground. That's when I rushed over to the figure. It was obviously Jet and when I asked him what had happened, all he said was someone's name and that he was badly injured and had been for a while."

"What name did he say?"

"Long Feng."

"Yup. That's the guy."

"Why? Who is he?"

"He was the leader of the Dai Li before Azula took over the city. He was practically treating the Earth King like his puppet until we told the Earth King the truth about the war against the Fire Nation and whatnot."

"What do you mean you told him the truth?"

"Oh, when we first came here to Ba Sing Se the war was not spoken of within the walls. At least the citizens knew about the war, though; the Earth King had no idea there was even a war waging." He shook his head. "It was bad."

"Wow, that's kinda scary. I couldn't imagine begin such an ignorant citizen with such a horrid war going on."

"No kidding. It reminded me of when I first met Aang. He had been asleep for a hundred years so he had no idea a war had started." He let out a heavy sigh. "So what happened after you found Jet?"

"Right. Well, like I said, he was badly injured. So I planned on helping him, but I had nowhere to go. Because of that, I went door-to-door again, knocking, hoping that someone would be kind enough to also want to help. Finally, a young girl answered her door. It was Hakara. She let us in without asking any questions and she made some healing remedies to tend to his wounds. The next day we met Jin and Yolanda. Then we all sorta took turns taking care of Jet. And once he was better he just sorta…took off. The four of us stayed together, though, and worked more on forming the Resistors. That's how we met Shion, who was one of the only other members around our age. But then Jet came to one of the meetings. And he came to another and another until he finally stayed behind after one to thank us for helping him. By this time I had had my own place in the city and he didn't have a place so he ended up moving in with me. And we didn't necessarily get along at first, but—"

"Because you're from the Fire Nation?" he assumed, cutting her off.

"He actually didn't know about that until the Day of Black Sun. None of them knew."

"How was that the day they found out?"

"I was in hand-to-hand combat with one of the colonials when the eclipse ended and fire suddenly shot out of my hands when I threw a punch," she explained. "I had already gained the trust of the Resistors, though, so it didn't bother them too much. Of course they were still caught off guard, but it wasn't a problem."

"That's good, then."

"Yeah." She nodded. "Either way, like I was saying, Jet and I didn't necessarily get along at first, but we actually became closer once he found out I was from the Fire Nation. Don't ask me how, but something just clicked once he knew."

He chuckled a bit. "I would say that that doesn't sound like the Jet I know, but then I don't really know him well enough. I mean, we ran into him a second time here in the city once Toph had started traveling with us. We managed to put the past behind us and teamed up with him to find Appa, Aang's flying bison. Then we had a run-in with Long Feng and that was when Jet got injured. He told us to leave him, so we did. Honestly, we all thought he was a goner. Apparently he wasn't, though."

"Well, apparently he was strong enough to last as long as he did," she pointed out. "I mean, I hadn't come across him until the Colonies had settled in the city. But he must've been so hurt, still, because he hadn't gotten the chance to heal properly. And the thing is that I could've gone and passed out those fliers any night, but I chose that night because it just felt right. Then I ended up being able to help and possibly even save a life."

"Looks like we're both heroes."

She smiled. "We are indeed." She paused. "Now back to Suki. When did she start traveling with you guys?"

"Not too long ago, actually. I mean, we met her before we met Toph, but she didn't start traveling with us until after the fall of Ba Sing Se. Zuko and I found and freed her from the Boiling Rock and that was when she stuck with us."

"The Boiling Rock?" she repeated. "You broke their record?"

"The hell we did," he stated.

"Now that's what I call impressive." She chuckled. "So when did Zuko join you guys?"

"After the Day of Black Sun."

"Right, right, I think Iroh did mention that, actually. Or Zuko told me. I don't even remember." She shook her head. "Aang must've been relieved to finally have a firebending master, though."

"He was afraid to firebend at first, but he eventually got over that fear."

"I'm not surprised. Fire is a difficult element to command. I mean," she looked at her burned hand, "even I still lose control sometimes. And don't even get me started on Zuko. Then again, I haven't seen him bend since he was thirteen."

"He's much better now."

"I would hope so."

"Do you wanna head over to the teashop?" Sokka then questioned, changing the subject.

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Zuko's not there, if that makes you feel any better."

"It shouldn't, but it does," she admitted.

"Why does it, then?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I'll keep asking about it until I get an actual answer."

She sighed. "There's a chance I may have…deeper feelings for him," she finally told him.

He nodded. "Everything makes sense now. Seriously." He laughed.

"It's not funny," she denied.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Thank you for telling me."

"Whatever." She paused. "Either way, I guess we could stop by. I can't stay too long, though."

"Why not?"

"Just because."

"That's not a reason," he denied.

"Let's just go," she said back. She got to her feet and looked down at him. "You coming?"

He smiled and jumped to his feet as well. "All right, what are we waiting for?" he asked in reply.

"I'm waiting for you."

"Well, I'm up now. So let's get moving!"

With that, Katalina and Sokka made their way to the Jasmine Dragon.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: The Chase

The two new friends made their way to the Jasmine Dragon together. It was a long walk, but Sokka had Katalina laughing so much that the walk just seemed to pass by. Then before they knew it they were standing at the entrance of the practically famous teashop.

"Have you even been in here yet?" Sokka questioned.

"Yeah, when the White Lotus members were still here I had been in almost every single day," Katalina told him. "I haven't been in since you and the others arrived, though."

"Well, not much has changed."

She laughed some more. "So are all of you working here now?"

"Yeah, we help Iroh out around the shop. Aang, Katara, and Mai help brew the tea while Suki, Zuko, and I help serve it to the customers."

"Iroh actually lets other people brew the tea?"

"Oh, don't worry, he trained them."

She found herself laughing once again. "And what about Toph?"

"She's lazy and just plays the blind card even though she can still see with her feet," he answered bluntly.

"I like her way of thinking."

"I had a feeling you would."

The two of them then entered the shop.

"Wow, is it always this busy in here?" she wondered.

"Pretty much," he confirmed. "Not that we necessarily need it, but we could use more help around here."

"Are you implying that me and my friends work here, too?"

"I don't see why you couldn't."

"Well, we're helping around the city, at the moment."

"After all that construction's done, then."

She shrugged. "I'll let them know."

"Sounds good. Now c'mon, the others should be in the back."

They started towards the back of the shop. They moved behind the counter, but Katalina stopped as Sokka began to open the door. He noticed this.

"Are you okay?" he checked.

"You're positive Zuko's not here?" she asked in reply.

He nodded. "I'm positive. He and Mai took a walk around the city. They shouldn't be back till later."

"They're both gone? Oh, even better."

"Don't worry about it, Lina." He opened the door and walked through. She closely followed behind him. "Hey guys!" he greeted all his friends. "Hey Iroh, I picked someone up along the way."

"You didn't pick me up," she denied. "You had followed me."

Iroh turned around at the sound of her voice. "Katalina, I didn't expect to see you back here."

"Nice to see you, too," she said back.

"You do know you can step in more, right?" he then asked. "You don't have to stand right by the door."

"What? Oh!" She quickly moved away from the door when she realised what he was talking about. "Sorry."

"What are you so nervous about?" Katara questioned.

"I'm not nervous," she denied.

"You're lying," Toph stated. "I can feel it."

"Good for you." Sarcasm rang in Katalina's voice.

"Don't come here just to give an attitude," Iroh spoke back up.

"She's probably just worried that Zuko's going to come back while she's still here," Sokka figured.

"Why would you be worried about that?" Aang wondered.

"I'm not worried about that," she denied again.

"That's another lie," Toph pointed out.

"Could you stop that?" Now there was annoyance in her voice.

The blind girl shrugged. "I can't help it."

"Doesn't mean you have to announce it to the entire room."

"Wait, why don't you want to see Zuko or Mai?" Suki asked.

"All of you ask a lot of questions," Katalina replied. "And frankly, I'm not in the mood to answer any of them."

"I didn't bring you here to be interrogated," Sokka cut back in.

"No, I know you didn't."

The door then opened. Katalina jumped, twisting to see who it was. Lucky for her, it was only Shion.

"Hey stranger!" he greeted her. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." He gave her a smile. "Where have you been hiding?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she responded.

"Hey, I've been doing my work around the city. Unlike the rest of your slackers who haven't done shit."

She laughed. "Proud of you, Shion."

"Damn right you are." He hit her shoulder playfully. "By the way, when are you gonna talk to Zuko? I'm getting sick of hearing Jet talk about it."

"I have spoken with Zuko."

"I'm pretty sure arguing isn't the same as talking."

"I would have to agree with that," Katara cut in. "Arguing and talking are in fact different things."

"Nobody asked you," Katalina said back.

"Don't be rude," Iroh replied. "She was only putting in a reasonable opinion. And Shion's right," he then also agreed. "It's about time you speak with Zuko without blowing up at him."

"Yeah, blowing up is supposed to be his specialty," Sokka pointed out. "Is it not? Or is that just an overall Fire Nation thing?"

"And why does Jet care so much?" Suki wondered. "Does he like you?"

"No, he's just concerned," Shion answered. "Jet likes—"

"Somebody else," Katalina interrupted. "Though, who that person is isn't any of your business."

"That's all beside the point," Iroh stated. "The point is that you need to fix this. And if you keep walking away from it then it'll only bring you deeper into the mess you've created."

"First of all, you're overreacting," she declared. "Second of all, fine, let me walk into my mess."

She then turned to walk away, but instead she walked right into Zuko.

"Lina!" Zuko exclaimed, taken aback.

"I-I have to go," she replied, looking to the ground. And she hurried out of the shop.

He went to go after her, but he was stopped.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mai questioned.

"I have to talk to her, Mai," Zuko told her. "I can't just keep letting her walk away from me."

"Clearly she doesn't want anything to do with you. So just let it go. Let her go. What's the point?"

"The point is that she's my best friend," he claimed.

And Zuko finally rushed after her before Mai could get another word in. He had no idea which direction Katalina went in, but he assumed that she was headed back for her apartment. So that's where he went. Eventually, he came across Jet and Jin. They caused him to stop dead in his tracks.

"Please, I need to talk to Katalina," he told them. "I'm getting sick of this whole charade and I need to set things straight."

Jet shook his head. "I really don't think she wants to talk to you."

"C'mon, I thought you wanted us to settle things."

"On her terms."

"Please, don't do this!"

Jin sighed out of exasperation. "Just let him go, Jet! We'll explain ourselves to Lina later. By then, though, hopefully she'll be thanking us instead."

"Fine," Jet easily gave in. "You can go talk to her." He stepped out of the way. "Just don't hurt her."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Zuko said.

With that, he continued to chase after Katalina. He already knew he was heading in the right direction, he just hoped that he'd be able to catch up with her. And get through to her.

Finally, he arrived at her apartment. He ran right up to the door and he just began banging on it. "Lina!" he shouted. "Lina!" He repeated her name over and over again, but he didn't receive a response. "C'mon, you can't ignore me forever!" he yelled. "Please let me in! Lina!"

The next thing Zuko knew, there was a loud bang and he was forcefully blown back. He took a moment to regain his strength before moving onto his knees. And once he refocused his vision, he saw the apartment was on fire.

"Lina!" he shouted for the umpteenth time. He jumped to his feet and made his way into the destroyed living area, redirecting the fire. Then he found her laying on the floor. "Lina!" He practically slid down beside her and picked her up before doing anything else. He pulled her out of the burning home before tumbling back to the ground. He held her close to him the entire time, though. "Lina, can you hear me?" he checked. "Lina…!"

There was a ringing in Katalina's ears. She didn't know what had just happened. Soon enough, though, the ringing began to sound like her name. Her eyes fluttered open and she managed to make out a figure towering over her. The figuring was holding her protectively. She didn't understand why. Her eyes then focused for just a moment and she was able to make out a scarred eye. And then everything went black.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Reawakening

When Katalina awoke next, there was still a ringing in her ears. It only last for a few seconds, though, before it was dismissed. She then opened her eyes to find herself in a room she didn't recognise. And she couldn't remember how she had gotten there. And when she tried sitting up, a gentle hand kept her down. She looked to the hand and followed the arm up until she saw who it was.

"Zuko," she spoke up, her voice weak and her throat scratchy. "What am I doing here? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" he asked in reply.

"I remember getting back to my apartment and then…" she trailed off. "And then nothing."

"Someone rigged the place to explode, Lina," he informed her.

Her breath caught in her throat. "And you saved me," she then recalled.

He swallowed hard, nodding his head once. "You've been coming in and out of consciousness for the last few days."

"Days?"

"Yeah. I mean, you were almost killed after all. It's pretty damn miraculous that you survived, actually."

"Someone tried to kill me."

"Two people tried to kill you," he corrected her.

"You figured it out already?"

"Of course I did. As soon as I knew you were at least somewhat all right, I brought you back here. Then I headed straight for the Colonies with Aang, Sokka, Jet, and Shion. We interrogated practically everyone until we figured out who committed the crime."

"How'd you know it was people from the Colonies?"

"Because I know the Fire Nation and I know how their citizens can be. And I can only assume there will be some disloyalties." He sighed. "I'm really sorry about this, Katalina."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm just glad you chased after me when I ran away."

He smiled back. "I'm just glad you're okay. This has happened to me before so I know how it can be."

"When did this happen to you?"

"Right before Zhao attacked the Northern Water Tribe. He blew up my ship while I was still on it. I was able to jump off and into the water as soon as it exploded, though. And Zhao thought it had been successful, so he was surprised when he saw me again."

"I forgot about that man," she replied. "What ever happened to him?"

"He was killed during the siege," he answered. "Anyway, how are you even feeling?"

"Weak and thirsty," she admitted.

"I'll go get you some water."

"Don't let anyone else come in here," she told him as he headed out. "Not yet, at least."

He nodded and left the room. While she waited for him to return, she tried sitting up. She moved very slowly and very cautiously. Once she got her back off of the bed, she turned to move her feet onto the floor. She still moved very slowly and very cautiously. Then once her feet were touching the floor, she placed her hands on either side of her and pushed herself up off the bed. She was able to stand for only a moment before her vision blurred and blacked out and she lost her balance. She tumbled forward, but she was caught by a pair of strong arms. They wrapped around her as they remained still enough for her to recollect herself. Her vision came back and she saw Zuko before her. She glanced up at him slightly before burying her face in his chest.

She hated looking weak around other people.

Zuko kept one arm at her back and brought the other one down under her knees. He lifted her up and returned her to the bed.

"You need to take it easy, Lina," he told her once he put her down. He then fetched the jug of water he had brought with him. He poured her a glass and handed it to her. "You haven't eaten anything, either. Do you want food?"

Katalina shook her head as she took a sip of the water. "What's going to happen to the people who rigged the explosives?" she asked.

"I had them sent to the Boiling Rock."

Her eyes widened. "You what?"

"That's where they deserve to go," he declared. He smiled again. "No one tries to kill the Fire Lord's best friend and gets away with it."

She couldn't help but to blush lightly at this. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. By the way, Uncle and I have already made the arrangements with Jet for you two to stay here."

"No, we could just stay with Jin or—"

"You're staying here where I can keep an eye on you and make sure no one else tries to kill you."

"But Mai—"

"What about Mai?"

She looked down. "Sokka told me that she isn't fond of me still."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know she isn't, but—"

"Then I shouldn't stay here," she cut him off this time. "I don't wanna get between you two. Even if it's unintentional."

"You won't come between us. Mai will just have to get over it."

"Zuko, I don't think that's very fair to her. She's your girlfriend and you need to respect her feelings."

"Well, you're my best friend and she needs to respect you."

They fell silent. Katalina continued to take small sips of water, her gaze turned down. Zuko, on the other hand, kept his eyes on her. And his stare was burning right through her.

"You scared me," he spoke up.

"I didn't mean to."

"No, I know you didn't." He sighed. "I guess it would make more sense to just say that I was scared."

"Why were you?"

"Because I thought I had lost you, Lina. It more ways than one, better yet."

She closed her eyes to hide the pain caused by that second statement. She took the last sip of water before putting the glass down.

"Do you want more?" he checked.

"Not right now."

"You need to replenish yourself."

"I'm sorry," she then said.

"For?"

"For that fact that it took me almost dying to realise that I—" she stopped herself, thinking, "—that you—" she stopped again, letting out a heavy sigh. She didn't know what she was trying to say anymore.

He still smiled at her. "You should know that I'll always forgive you," he said back. "No matter what."

"Why?"

"Because you're my best friend and I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You seemed to have been fine without me for those three years," she mumbled. And she instantly regretted it.

"Are you really gonna do this right now?" he asked in reply.

She shook her head. "No. I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry."

He stopped, a bit surprised by her response. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Natural reaction," she admitted. "Just trying to protect myself." Her gaze locked with his. "I tend to hurt others before they can hurt me."

"I would never hurt you, though."

"No, I know you wouldn't."

"So why are you trying to hurt me?"

She took a deep breath and shakily let it out. "You know, I could go for another glass of water." So he poured more water into her cup and handed it back to her. This time she just chugged the entire thing. "I'm not trying to hurt you," she then denied.

"We don't have to talk about this," he denied. "Let's just forget about it and start fresh."

She nodded. "We could try that."

"Good." He stood up. "You should try to rest some," he suggested.

"Yeah, that would probably be best," she agreed.

Zuko went to leave, but he stopped in the doorway. "By the way," he started, "I wasn't fine without you for those three years." Then he left.

Katalina stared at the doorway. This time she longed to chase after him, but she knew that she couldn't. So instead she just closed her eyes and dreamt of chasing after him.


	16. Chapter Fifteen: The Aftermath

The next time Katalina woke up, she noticed that it was late at night. And she would've just gone back to bed if it wasn't for the rumbling in her stomach. So she carefully got out of bed and made her way downstairs. Then she started searching for something to eat, but it wasn't long before someone joined her.

"I've always admired this about you," the male voice said. She turned to see Zuko at the bottom of the stairs. "You've always been so strong," he finished. "You've always been a fighter."

"That would be why I created the Resistors," she responded. "You know…to fight against the Colonies."

"Right." He nodded. "The only problem is that you tend to fight against yourself a lot as well."

"I don't know where you're going with this. I mean, I just came down here to find food."

"I just mean that you shouldn't let this attack get the better of you. Don't let it get you paranoid."

"You do realise how random this is, right?"

Now he shook his head. "I know you're strong, Lina, but you don't have to act strong for the rest of us."

"Seriously Zuko, what are you talking about?"

"How are you feeling right now?"

"Hungry."

"Besides that."

She paused before shrugging her shoulders. "I feel fine."

"And that's what I mean."

She sighed. "I do, though. I feel fine."

"You haven't eaten in days. You can't feel fine."

"What does it matter?"

"Because I admire your strength, but I hate it when you just act strong for others. And I know you will enough to know that that's exactly what you're gonna do after this whole incident."

"There's nothing wrong with acting strong," she denied.

"There's also nothing wrong with being weak. And I've known you my whole life and have never seen you weak, but now I know that you must feel weak and you must feel paranoid."

"Yeah, that's why I don't want to stay here. I don't want to see any of you get hurt on account of me."

"No one else will get hurt."

"How do you know?"

"I won't allow it."

"Look Zuko, can I please just get some food and get back to bed?"

"So long as you don't fake it in front of me."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"Because I've learned to appreciate honesty."

Her eyes widened a bit. Then she shook her head. "I'm exhausted…"

"Then I'll let you go," he gave in.

Katalina found something small to eat and headed for the stairs. Then what Zuko said finally registered with her.

"Hold on, you don't think I've even been weak?" she questioned.

"I thought you were going back to bed," he replied.

"No, I'm finally waking up and realising what you said. And you really don't think I've ever been weak?"

"You've never been weak," he declared.

She shook her head. "You don't even know the half of it."

"Then tell me, Lina. Tell me everything I don't know because I want to know. I wanna remain a part of your life. So don't let us drift apart."

"Are you saying you wanna be friends?" she checked after a few long moments of silence.

"No, I'm saying I wanna stay friends," he corrected her. "And I know things have changed, okay? I know things aren't going to be the same as they were three years ago, but that's okay. I mean, things are better now. Things are much better. And we can build off of that, can't we?"

"Mai won't like it," she pointed out.

"Mai's gonna have to deal with it," he said again. "Come on, I thought I told you that already."

"And I thought I told you that you have to respect your girlfriend's feelings."

"If I have to respect her feelings, then shouldn't she have to respect my feelings as well?"

She paused. "I'm toxic, Zuko," she then stated, beginning to feel overwhelmed by the situation at hand.

"What kind of bullshit excuse is that?"

Now she sighed. "It means that I could fall apart at any second."

"What's causing you to fall apart?"

"I'm more so ripping myself apart," she admitted, trying to fight off the dizzy sensation come over her all of a sudden.

"Then stop. Fight against it. I know you can. Plus, you'll have me to help you along the way. From here on out I'm standing by your side, whether you want me to or not."

"I do want you to be there, but—"

"No, there are no buts. These are just simple steps to be taken."

"If you know me then you should know that I tend to trip over thin air."

"Then I'll be the hand that helps pull you back to your feet."

"And what if I fall?" she asked. She spun on her heel to face him at this moment, which was a bad idea. The dizziness took her over and she fell into him again. "What happens then?" Her voice had softened.

"I'll catch you," he answered, holding her in his arms now. She looked up at him and he smiled down at her. "You're not getting rid of me."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that."

That caused his smile to fall away. "Let's get you back to bed." And he went to pick her up like he had done before.

"I don't need you to carry me this time," she denied, stopping him. "Just walk behind me."

So that's what he did. They headed back upstairs and Zuko walked with Katalina until she was back in her bed. Then he bed her goodnight and returned to his own room. She tucked herself in and stared up at the blank ceiling. She remembered the food she had brought with her, but she no longer felt hungry. Instead she just set it aside and turned her back on the door. She waited for the sound of footsteps. And when she didn't hear them, she closed her eyes and fell back asleep.


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Acceptance

A week and a half had gone by since the incident. And since it happened, Katalina had been spending everyday working on the construction of the city. Working kept her mind off the incident, which was exactly what she wanted. And she was sure to work far away from Jet, Yolanda, Hakara, Jin, and Shion. She didn't want any of them getting caught in a possible crossfire.

She couldn't stay away forever, though. And every evening she returned to the Jasmine Dragon. Then it was there she was reminded of the incident because Zuko kept bringing it up.

"So it's been one week now," he stated once she got back that night.

She froze before shaking her head and continuing to clean the dirty dishes from the day. "Yeah, it's been a week," she confirmed.

Jet, Mai, and Iroh looked back and forth from Kairi to Zuko. They knew what was coming, but they refused to leave. After all, they were less prone to argue when others were around.

"How have you been holding up?" he checked.

"I'm constantly looking over my shoulder," she admitted.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't constantly be alone."

"I'm not."

"You know what I mean, Lina."

"Maybe you should stop bringing it up every damn single day."

He sighed. "I'm trying to help you move past this. I mean, this isn't something you can just ignore."

"I'm not ignoring it," she denied. "My paranoia won't let me. Trust me, if I could ignore it I would."

"Well, trust me when I say that ignoring a situation doesn't help and it definitely doesn't make it go away."

"Like you would know."

"Excuse me? Don't you think I wanted to ignore what my father did to me? Don't you think I wanted to ignore the fact that he burned me? Of course I did! I couldn't, though, because he left a permanent reminder on my face!" He pointed to the scar covering his left eye. "I got through it, though, because I was able to accept what happened and move past it."

"Yeah, three years later," she muttered.

He clenched his jaw. "You're doing it again, Lina." He turned to the others. "Could you three please leave?"

"No," Mai denied shortly.

"Yes we can," Jet replied.

The three of them then headed upstairs, Jet practically dragging Mai along with him.

Zuko turned back on Katalina. "Listen," he began, "I know what it feels like to be ambushed and attacked like that. So I know it's hard and I know it's painful, but you have to realise that it wasn't just some nightmare. Two people tried to kill you. That memory won't go away; it'll haunt you for the rest of your life. And I know what I'm saying to you now may not seem helpful, but I'm just trying to face you against reality. And if that means having to say flat out that two people tried to kill you, then I will say it." He paused. "You almost died, Lina, because two people tried to kill you."

She suddenly turned on her heel and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back.

"You're right," she whispered. "All week I've been trying to convince myself that it didn't really happen; that it was just some nightmare. Yet I'm paranoid and feel like I can't turn my back on anyone or else they might pull a knife on me. Because it wasn't a nightmare. It was real life."

"Sometimes real life is the cruelest nightmare of all."

Katalina spit out a laugh as tears spilled from her eyes. Zuko wiped them away for her, smiling.

"You have to keep in mind that I'm here for you, Lina," he then told her. "Mai isn't going to change that, either. I'm here for you, along with Uncle and Jet and all your other friends. You can talk to any of us."

She shook her head. "For some reason I only feel comfortable talking to you. Like you're the only one who won't get hurt because you're the Fire Lord now. But if I talk to anyone else about it, they'll be targeted, too."

"Then talk to me." He brought her back into him; back into another hug. "Talk to me and I will listen."

She buried her face in his chest as silent tears continued to stream down her cheeks. She slightly gripped his clothes, too, not wanting him to let her go.

"Zuko," she choked, looking up at him.

"Yes?"

"If I were to tell you something ridiculous, would you get angry with me?"

He looked down at her. "I think it depends on how ridiculous. Why? Did you do something ridiculous?"

"Well, I guess you could call it that. It's ridiculous for me, at least."

He chuckled a bit. "Katalina, what did you do?"

She paused before shaking her head. "Nothing, never mind it." She pushed herself away from him and turned back to the dishes she had been washing before. "I guess I just find it ironic how only a week ago I was trying so hard to keep my distance and now all I want is to be with you."

"Why is that ridiculous?" he wondered.

"Because it's me."

"I don't get it…"

"Let's just drop it, then," she replied.

He thought for a moment. "Fine," he gave in.

"Thank you."

As she went on washing the dishes, she could feel his eyes burning through her, just like they had been a week earlier.

"I'll go tell the Uncle, Mai, and Jet that they can come back down now," he broke the silence that had fallen between them.

As Zuko walked away, Katalina turned to face him. And once he was up the stairs and out of sight she said to herself, "It was ridiculous of me to have fallen in love with you."


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Shaking On It

The next day, Katalina found herself walking aimlessly with Jet and Shion. They had finished up their work at the wall, but decided against retiring to the Jasmine Dragon right away. So they just walked around the city instead. And they spoke about random things. Then the topic she was dreading came up.

"You and Zuko seem to be getting along now," Jet pointed out.

She nodded. "Yeah, we've been better."

"Good because we were all getting sick of you two fighting," Shion replied. He laughed. "So did you near-death experience cause you to reach enlightenment or something?"

"You could say that if you wanted to." She sighed. "Zuko and I are getting close again and Mai is hating me even more."

"Mai's a bitch," he stated.

"At least you don't have to live with her," Jet replied. "Lina, we really need to find another place."

"You barely ever see her," Katalina said back. "I think you can deal."

"Oh? Are you enjoying staying there?" he asked, a smirk spreading across his face. "Do you have some repressed emotions coming out into the open?" He laughed at his own comments.

"I almost told him," she responded.

"Told him what?" Shion wondered.

"The truth."

Jet now stopped laughing. "Wait, what's the truth?"

She took a deep breath. "I think I am in love with him," she then admitted. Both of them gawked at her. "Yeah, I know, it's ridiculous."

"And you almost told him that?" Jet then repeated. "Almost? Well, why didn't you? What kept you from telling him?"

"He is dating Mai."

"And she is a bitch," Shion reiterated. "Plus, Zuko deserves to know how you feel, Lina. I mean, this isn't something you can hide from him forever. You'll have to tell him at some point. And you're gonna wanna tell him before he finds out for himself."

"How the hell would he find out?" Jet wondered. "Trust me, if he hasn't realised it yet then he's frigging oblivious. I do agree, though. You should tell him, Lina. I mean, it's not like he's in love with Mai. And I doubt she loves him as much as you do."

"Whoa, whoa, you two are getting way far ahead of me," she cut back in. "I only said that I think I love him. I'm still not positive. And there's no way of knowing if he is in love with Mai or not. He very well could be."

"He would leave her for you, though," he figured.

"I'm only his best friend. That's all he sees me as."

"Are you sure? Maybe the only reason he's still with Mai is because he doesn't think he has a chance with you."

"I think you two are thinking too deep into this," she declared. "I'm not gonna tell him because I'm not gonna try to break them up."

"We could tell him for you," Jet suggested.

"Say one word to Zuko and I will tell Jin that you like her."

His eyes widened. "Don't do that!"

"Then shut up about it."

"Actually, that would be interesting," Shion thought aloud. "Make a deal out of it. If Jet tells Jin the truth, then Katalina has to tell Zuko the truth."

"That's not fair!" Jet exclaimed.

"I won't be telling Zuko, then," Katalina denied. "Because I actually like Shion's idea. Tell Jin and I'll tell Zuko."

He sighed. "I'll think about it."

"Why don't you want to tell her?"

"Stop—"

"No, it's my turn to interrogate you."

"Okay, I get it! I'll stop asking you so many questions about it."

"Thank you."

"Though, I do want to help you, still," he told her. "But I won't help until you ask for help. So just be sure to keep us up to date with what's going on."

"I will," she promised.

"And I'm not gonna tell you what you should or shouldn't do, but I will give you some helpful advice."

"Maybe you should shut up now," Shion cut back in.

"Do what you think is right, Lina," he went on anyway. "And if you think it's right to keep a secret like this from your best friend, that's fine. But if you think he should know the truth, that's fine, too. Just make sure you're happy with what you decide to do or not do."

Katalina thought for a moment. "Was that supposed to be some sort of…reverse psychology bullshit?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Why? Did it work?"

"Not in the slightest."

Shion laughed. "Nice try, Jet."

"C'mon Lina!"

"You're a moron," she said back. Then she let out a heavy sigh. "If Mai and Zuko ever breakup then I'll tell him the truth."

"Unless Jet decides to tell Jin the truth."

"Let's face it, Shion, that's never gonna happen. Yet you don't see me pressuring him about it."

"Okay, I get it," Jet stated. "What if Zuko and Mai never breakup, though?"

"Then I guess I'll spend the rest of my life just as the best friend."

"Please, even I don't think you could last that long without saying a word about it," Shion said.

"And I'm surprised we've lasted thing long talking about it in general," Katalina responded. "Especially when I never wanted to talk about it in the first place. So what happened to dropping the subject?"

"Fine, we'll drop it now," Jet confirmed.

"Not until you two make the deal official," Shion declared. "If and when Jet tells Jin the truth, Katalina has to tell Zuko the truth as well."

Jet shrugged. "Deal." He stuck his hand out in front of him.

Katalina took his hand and shook it firmly. "Deal."

Behind her back, though, her fingers were crossed.


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Truth Be Told

Zuko waited in the backroom of the teashop that evening. He knew Katalina was done with her work around the city by now, but she had yet to return. And he was trying to not let that worry him, but after what happened he was always worried about her.

"Why are you just sitting down here?" Mai suddenly asked, coming down the stairs.

"Oh, I'm waiting for Lina," he answered absentmindedly. "A-and Jet," he quickly added after realising what he had said.

She nodded, unconvinced. "Right." She sat with him. "Do you mind if we talk about her?"

"What about her?"

"I don't like how close you two are," she admitted flat out.

"How is it any different than when we were kids?"

"The difference is that we're no longer kids, Zuko. And you're dating me."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't need Katalina trying to undermine me and steal you from me."

"C'mon Mai, she would never do that. We're only friends. Nothing more."

"So you've honestly never had any feelings for her?"

Now she shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I've never really thought about it."

"How have you not thought about it?"

"Why do you care so much? You should trust me!"

She paused. "I do trust you, Zuko. It's her I don't trust."

"Get over it, then."

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?" She pursed her lips. "You know, you two were much better off keeping your distance," she then went on. "She's a bad influence on you. She's bad luck!"

"Bad luck?" he repeated. "What the hell has gotten into you?"

"It's not what's gotten into, but who's gotten in between this relationship," she corrected him. "You can't have both of us, Zuko."

"Mai—"

"You value honesty now, don't you?" she cut him off. "Well, I'm being honest with you."

"You're not being fair."

"Look, I know you're concerned because of the attack on her, but she's a big girl and she can take care of herself," she continued. "She can clean up her own messes and you don't have to always be there to save the day."

"It's not even like that!"

"Oh please, yes it is. Think about it. Katalina always goes to you when she needs help. She always has. But you need to let go and start letting her help herself. After all, things are different now."

He shook his head. "I don't always save the day," he denied again.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "You have to let her protect herself. Every time you've helped, it's backfired and you got hurt. Do you really wanna keep going through that?"

"Where do you come up with this bullshit?"

"It's the truth! Or are you just that ignorant about your own friendship?" Now she shook her head. "Katalina doesn't actually care about you. She's only ever used you as a shield."

"Shut up!"

"Excuse me?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"That's what you think." She got to her feet and moved behind him, wrapping her arms gently around his neck as he remained seated. "I'm only trying to look out for you because I truly care about you. And you don't need someone like Katalina Palmer in your life." She kissed his cheek. "I need you to realise that before it's too late." She then slid away from him to return upstairs.

Zuko swallowed hard. "You can't make me choose between the two of you," he then called after her.

Mai stopped. "I'm gonna give you time to think about that," she replied. "But I know you'll make the right decision in the end." She left.

It wasn't long before Iroh was sitting across from Zuko.

"How much did you hear?" he asked his uncle.

"Enough to understand the premise of the argument," he answered. "Though, every argument you two have now seems to revolve around Katalina."

"Mai was never like this before," he stated. "So why is she acting like this all of a sudden?"

"You really don't know?"

"If I did I wouldn't be asking you, Uncle."

He chuckled lightly. "Here's all I'm going to say about it," he then began. "Mai is telling you to stop being friends with Katalina. But has Katalina ever once told you to stop dating Mai?"

He shook his head. "No. She actually feels really bad about the fights she's been unintentionally causing."

"So which relationship is the toxic one?" he wondered. Then he stood back up. "Goodnight my nephew." He went back upstairs.

Zuko contemplated his uncle's final question. Then Katalina and Jet entered the backroom. He jumped to his feet, startled for some odd reason. They didn't seem to notice his jerky movement, though.

"Hey," she greeted him with a smile. "Sorry we took so long tonight."

"Yeah, we walked around the city a little bit before walking Shion home," Jet explained.

"No worries. It's not dark yet, so…" he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, I'm gonna turn in," he replied. "G'night!" He headed upstairs.

"How long were you waiting?" Katalina wondered.

"Not very long," Zuko lied. He paused, thinking. "Hey, you don't think I should breakup with Mai, do you?" he then asked her.

She froze. "W-why?" She folded her arms across her chest. "Are you c-considering it?"

"No! I was just curious—"

"I wouldn't tell you to end any relationship."

"Even if you weren't fond of the girl?"

"Even if that were the case, it still wouldn't be my relationship to interfere with. I mean, I don't make your decisions for you. Whatever goes on between you and your girlfriend is between you and your girlfriend. I have no place in that."

He nodded. "I appreciate that."

"Well, that's how it should be just in general," she said back. "Why? What did Mai do this time?"

"Huh?"

"I'm assuming you're asking this because she made some sort of rude comment about—"

"She didn't do anything," he lied again.

"Ah." She paused. "I'm gonna go to bed, then." And she hurried upstairs.

Zuko fell back into his chair with a heavy sigh. He wasn't sure if he had just made things simpler for himself…or more difficult.


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Using Force

"Uh-oh, someone's thinking again," Sokka announced his presence as his, Toph, Aang, Suki, and Katara entered the Jasmine Dragon a few mornings later. "What's on your mind now?"

Katalina was sitting at one of the tables. She had been washing them, getting ready to open the shop, but she got distracted by her thoughts. That was happening to her a lot as of lately.

"What?" she replied, reeling herself back in. "Oh, nothing," she then answered. "I was only spacing out."

"That seemed like more than just a spacing out face," Suki said back.

"Did something happen between you and Zuko?" Katara checked.

"How is that any of your business?" Katalina wondered in response.

"We're not saying it is," Aang stated.

"But based on what Sokka's told us, we're still curious," Toph added.

"Oh?" Katalina turned her attention on the Water Tribe boy. "And what exactly has Sokka told you?"

"Oh. Were we supposed to not let her know that we know?" Aang then asked. "Oops. Sorry Sokka."

Now her eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. "I can't believe you told them! What right do they have to know?"

"I didn't tell them on purpose," Sokka denied. "It just sorta slipped out."

"What slipped out?" Jet questioned, exiting the backroom and joining them.

"Sokka's idiocy," she answered.

"Come again?"

"I accidentally told them that she has feelings for Zuko."

"Way to go, moron." He paused. "Then again, Lina, what does it matter if they know? So long as Zuko doesn't know, it's fine, right?"

"He's got a point," he agreed.

"Of course you would agree, moron," she replied. "Just don't let it slip out in front of Zuko. Got it?"

"Hey, I'm not that big of an idiot."

She rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Why don't you just tell Zuko the truth?" Toph wondered.

"Because he's dating Mai and I respect that."

"So you'll tell him if they breakup?" Suki figured.

"I'll tell him once Jet tells Jin that he likes her," Katalina declared.

Jet sighed. "Shut up about that."

"No! That was our deal."

"Whatever. I'm heading out. See you later today." And he left the shop.

Katalina fell back into the chair she had originally been sitting in. She rested an elbow on the table, and then rested her chin in her hand. It wasn't long before she ran away with her thoughts again.

"Lina," a female voice then snapped her out of it. She turned to see Mai standing in the door leading to the backroom. "It isn't time for your break."

"She's not taking a break," Sokka defended her. "She's just…thinking."

"Well, if you ask me—"

"Nobody asked you anything," Katalina cut her off.

"It sounds to me like someone needs a relaxing day," Aang thought aloud. "Sokka, why don't you take Katalina out for a ride on Appa? He could probably use the exercise anyway."

"That's not a bad idea," he agreed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up," she cut back in. "Appa?" she then repeated. "You mean your bison? Like, the one that flies?

"Yeah, that would be the one," Toph confirmed.

"C'mon Lina, it'd be fun!" Sokka declared.

"And it does sound like a blast. Really, it does. But as you can see, I'm working the shop today."

"Please, go fly on the bison," Mai said back. "So long as it gets you away from here then I don't really care."

"Mai," Zuko interrupted, also coming from the backroom, "stop."

"Zuko!" Sokka then exclaimed. "Please tell Lina to come with me and go on a ride on Appa."

"Yeah, you should definitely go," he told her.

"You should know better than anyone else that I'm not a fan of heights," Katalina replied.

"I know you do. But I mean, I didn't like flying at first, either. Then it grew on me. Well…sorta."

"Just go with Sokka," Katara said.

"I can't! I'm working the shop today."

"Lina, I will drag you out of here if I have to," Zuko threatened, though he was smiling.

"You wouldn't dare," Katalina denied.

"Are you testing me?"

"She is," Sokka confirmed. "So do it, Zuko. Just do it."

"Yeah, I'm doing it." He walked out from behind the counter and took hold of Katalina's arms. He pushed and dragged her out of the teashop. She did all she could to break free of his grip, but to no avail. "Now go with Sokka," he demanded once they were outside. "Please," he added.

"Mai's gonna be mad at you," she said back.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked. "I'll deal with her. And that isn't gonna get you out of going."

"I don't understand why you want me to go so badly. What's the point?"

"The point is that it'll be fun and you could use some fun right now. So will you please do this?" He brushed a strand a hair from out of her face and behind her ear. "For me?" His hand lingered there.

Katalina pushed Zuko's hand away. "Fine," she gave in. "I'll go."


	21. Chapter Twenty: Taking to the Skies

As soon as Sokka joined Katalina and Zuko outside, she grabbed him by the wrist and started pulling him with her. He had stumbled a bitch to catch up, but was able to regain his balance once she let go of him.

"C'mon, you two were alone for all of ten seconds," he stated. "What could have happened in ten seconds?"

"Nothing happened," she lied.

He thought for a moment. "Can I ask you one thing about him without you getting me? And then we can drop the subject for now?

"Fine."

"Do you think there's a chance he could like you, too?"

"Honestly, I have no idea."

"Well, maybe he does but just hasn't realised it yet."

"You asked your one question, Sokka. Now it's time to drop the subject."

"Okay."

They continued their fast-paced walk in silence. Eventually, they arrived at where Sokka and the others were living. They went around to the back where Appa was kept.

"Here he is," Sokka announced.

Katalina smiled. "What a beautiful creature." She approached the bison, but when he turned to face them, she jumped back.

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite," he told her. Then he thought for a moment. "Well, actually he does, but only if he doesn't like you."

"Good to know."

He laughed. "Appa, this is Katalina," he introduced her. "She's a good friend of Zuko's."

"Why mention that?"

"Because Appa likes Zuko. Back when Appa had been kidnapped by sandbenders and brought here to the city and kept hidden by Long Feng, Zuko was the one who found him and set him free. And that was before he joined us."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Wow, that's a very heroic thing for Zuko to do. Especially since he was technically still your enemy at the time."

"Trust me, we were just as surprised."

Just then, a small creature flew towards Katalina. She let out a gasp as she ducked and covered her head with her arms. She could hear Sokka laughing.

"Relax, it's only Momo," he informed her.

"Who?"

"Momo, our pet lemur."

She straightened herself out. "Oh yeah, I think Iroh mentioned that you had a pet lemur as well."

"We found him at the Southern Air Temple."

She now saw the lemur resting on his arm. "Oh, he's so cute!" she exclaimed.

He laughed again. "Momo, this is Katalina."

Momo flew over to her and licked her face. She laughed.

"Are you ready to ride Appa?" he then checked.

"What?" She paused. "Oh yeah…the thing we came here for."

"Don't worry, you'll be perfectly safe. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Except falling to my death."

"Just don't fall of, then," he replied. She shot him a nasty look. "You wouldn't fall off anyway! Come on Lina, stop worrying so much. Toph rides on Appa and she can't even see when she's in the air."

"If that was supposed to make me feel better, it didn't work."

"You said you would go."

"That was just to get Zuko off my case."

"I don't care. You're going. Now come on."

He climbed onto Appa. Katalina hesitated, but she still followed. Once she was settled in the saddle, Sokka crawled onto the bison's head to take the reins.

"Are you ready?" he repeated.

"Not at all," she denied.

"Great," he responded. "Yip, yip!"

The flying bison took to the sky.

"You know, instead of watching the ground get farther away, I'm just gonna watch the sky grow closer," she decided. "That sounds a bit more relaxing." So she lay on her back and looked up at the blue sky. Momo rested on her torso. "Wow, this actually is pretty relaxing."

"Just wait till you see the city from this height."

"Hey, no one said that I would have to look down at Ba Sing Se from way up here," she pointed out. "And I refuse to do so."

"It's really not that bad, Lina."

"Easy for you to say; you practically used to live up here."

"So what? Zuko got used to it. He said so himself."

"Yeah, well, I'm not Zuko. So don't try to compare me to him. Just because we're both from the Fire Nation, doesn't mean we like the same things. Take the war, for instance. That's a perfect example of how different we can be."

"That's actually a pretty bad example given the fact that Zuko did eventually turn against the war. It just took him longer to do it than it took you."

"We're still not the same."

"I wasn't even trying to compare you to him in the first place."

She let out a heavy sigh. "Sorry."

"I'll forgive you once you look over the edge."

"Excuse me? You really expect me to look down at the city?"

"Don't you want my forgiveness?"

"I think I could live without it."

"Shut up and look!" he finally ordered.

Now Katalina took a deep breath and let it out. She sat up, causing Momo to jump off of her, and then she closed her eyes. Slowly and carefully she leaned over the saddle. She opened her eyes, saw how high up they were, and hastily jumped back, gasping.

"Everything okay back there?" Sokka checked.

"Fine, fine, just taking it all in," she replied. She took another quick breath, closing her eyes again. She leaned over the saddle once more, this time opening her eyes more slowly. She saw the city of Ba Sing Se and gasped once more.

"What is it this time?"

"Nothing. The city is just so beautiful. And I can't believe I never realised how huge it is."

"It is the biggest city in the world. That's why all the refugees came here during the war."

"That's also why it's so easy to get lost."

"Did you get lost a lot when you first arrived here?"

"No, actually. Looking at it now, though, I'm surprised I never did." She chuckled and petted Momo. Then she looked back down at the city. "Everyone looks so tiny from up here."

"Still afraid of heights?" he then wondered, smiling.

"Yes I am, but I'm not so much as bothered by them anymore," she answered, still petting Momo's head.

"What made you afraid of them to begin with?"

"Well, I guess it was really always more of a fear of falling," she admitted. "But when Zuko and I were little—and I mean, like, seven or eight—we used to go out and explore and the Fire Nation and have our own little adventures. And one day we discovered this hidden pathway, so we followed it. It led us higher and higher until we reached the end, which just so happened to be an extremely tall cliff side. And me being my curious self, I looked over the edge to try to get an idea of exactly how high up we were." She paused. "That was when I fell." Now she let out a sigh. "If Zuko hadn't been up there with me at that moment, I don't think I'd be up here with you right now telling this story."

"So he saved your life?" he clarified.

She smiled. "He did."

"And you said that you two were seven or eight when this happened?"

"That's right."

"When did you two first meet, then?"

"We were five-years-old. So we've practically grown up together."

"No wonder you've developed feelings for him," he thought aloud.

"Excuse me?" she replied.

"Sorry, getting off the subject now," he said back. "Do you wanna fly?" he then asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you wanna take the reins and fly Appa?"

"Oh, I don't think so," she denied. "That's probably not the best idea."

"Please, it's easy! All you have to do it hold onto the reins. Then Appa does the rest of the work."

"Well, when you put it that way it does sound pretty simple."

"Then get your ass over here. And don't worry, I'll stay by your side the entire time," he promised.

She laughed. "Okay." She crawled out of the saddle and cautiously moved over to Sokka. Momo followed her. And once she was seated next to him, the lemur seated himself around her shoulders.

"Here you go." Sokka handed Katalina the reins. "Now you can go wherever you please."

"Wherever?"

"Don't go down. Not yet, at least."

"I actually wasn't thinking that."

"Then where are you thinking of going?" he wondered. "Because you do have to stay here in Ba Sing Se."

"I wasn't thinking about leaving, either."

"Should I be scared, though?"

"Why should you be scared?"

"Because you're flying now."

She laughed again. "I'm not gonna do anything stupid," she assured him. "So," she then thought for a moment or two, "where do I wanna go?"


	22. Chapter Twenty-One: Duties of the Throne

Back at the Jasmine Dragon, business was going about as usual. Though, the shop was busier than usual. No one minded this, though, especially Iroh. The only real problem was that his nephew was distracted.

"Are you feeling all right, Zuko?" he checked.

"I'm fine," he answered. "Why?"

"You seem diverted by something. Is Mai angry with you again?"

"When isn't she anymore?" He sighed. "Either way, no, it's not that. And I am fine."

"Not to be rude," Katara started, "but could you two just stop chatting? We need to make these tea orders. I'm falling a bit behind as it is."

"Right, of course," Iroh replied.

"And you know, Toph, you could help as well," she pointed out.

"I'm blind, though, so I'd probably just mess everything up," she responded. "I'll just continue to sit here instead."

Katara rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything else. The four of them fell silent as the three went back to making the tea to fulfill the orders they had. Mai, Aang, and Suki, on the other hand, were shuffling back and forth between the backroom and the front room to deliver said orders. And then the next thing they knew, Jet walked in.

"Hello there," he greeted them.

"Now's not the time, Jet," Katara said back.

"Too bad because this," he pulled out a scroll, "just came for the Fire Lord."

Zuko dropped what he was doing and refocused his attention. "What is it?"

"I'm not the Fire Lord so I don't know."

He walked up to Jet and took the scroll. He unrolled it and read the letter. He let out a sigh when he finished.

"Is something wrong?" Iroh checked.

"I need to get back to the Fire Nation," Zuko replied.

"What?" Mai asked as she, Aang, and Suki reentered the backroom. "Why?"

"Apparently there have been riots caused by those few citizens who still believe in Ozai's rule," he informed. "It'd be best if I left as soon as possible." He turned to head upstairs.

"Do you wanna take Appa?" Aang checked.

"Thank you, but I'll just arrange a ship."

"That alone could take a few days," Suki pointed out. "Plus the time it'll take to actually get to the Fire Nation."

He sighed. "Well I don't frigging know!" His head fell into his hands before he ran his fingers through his hair, slightly pulling at it. "What do you think would be best, Uncle?"

"Arrange the ship, but have Aang bring you to the edge of the Earth Kingdom on his bison," Iroh answered. "No matter what you do, the travel time will be at least two weeks. Also, I don't think you should go back alone."

"I'll be going with him," Mai decided.

"Going with whom where?" Katalina questioned as she and Sokka joined them in the backroom.

"Zuko is being called upon as Fire Lord," Jet answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka wondered.

"He got a letter stating that he's needed in the Fire Nation," Toph clarified.

"Oh," Katalina said shortly. "What's wrong?"

"People are rioting," Zuko informed her.

"I'll close the shop early today so I can go arrange a ship for you," Iroh decided. "And don't try to talk me out of it because it won't be a problem."

"Then I'll take you to the ship on Appa," Aang reiterated. "Speaking of which," he turned to Katalina and Sokka, "how was flying?"

"It was actually a lot of fun," Katalina admitted. "I never thought in a million years I would enjoy flying so much, but I was wrong."

"You went flying?" Jet stated.

"Instead of chatting, we could use help around the shop with these last few tea orders," Mai interrupted. And she left the backroom.

"I should get ready to leave," Zuko spoke up. And he went upstairs.

"So you two took longer than we expected," Toph then cut back in.

"We lost track of time," Katalina replied.

"Yeah, that's easy to do when you're flying," Aang declared.

"We should probably get back to helping Mai before she freaks out again," Suki then suggested.

"Right," he agreed. And the two of them left the backroom.

"Is Mai vicious to everyone?" Jet asked.

"Only when Lina's around," Katara replied.

Katalina laughed at this. "Whatever. At least she'll be gone for a good month."

"So will Zuko," Sokka pointed out.

"Shut up."

"Maybe this will be the trip he needs to help him realise how awful Mai is," Jet thought aloud. "Maybe they'll come home broken up, and then Lina—"

"You have to tell Jin first," she cut him off.

"Not if they're broken up!" he denied.

"I'm not telling Zuko anything until you tell Jin everything."

"I hate you."

"Good for you."

"Lina!" Zuko then called from atop the stairs.

"I'm being summoned," she said. She then headed upstairs and met Zuko in his room. "What's up?"

"I was just thinking about how I'm pretty sure I promised you that if I had to go anywhere I would take you with me," he rambled.

"And?"

"And now I have to go to the Fire Nation," he stated. "So would you want to come with me?"

"Mai's going with you," she replied. "So I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to go as well."

"But I could be gone for at least a month."

She nodded. "I'm aware."

"You'd be okay with that?"

"Of course I would be. Besides, this could be a good chance for you and Mai to sort of…reestablish your relationship."

"It could also be a good chance for you and me to reestablish our friendship."

"Zuko, I can't go."

He sighed, looking down. "I'd rather have you come with me, but I can't tell Mai that."

"Wait, why would you rather I go with you?"

"You'd be more helpful."

"Don't say that."

"I'm sorry, but it's true."

"Zuko—"

"What's going on in here?" Mai suddenly asked, interrupting them.

"Nothing," he denied.

"He was only asking me what I think he should bring with him," Katalina lied. "I told him to just worry about the essentials."

"You could have asked me that," Mai pointed out.

"Lina was available; you were busy."

"And you couldn't have waited until I wasn't busy?"

"You really need to get off his case," Katalina declared. "You should trust him a hell of a lot more than you do."

"I do trust him. It's—"

"—me you don't trust. Yeah, I get that. Get off my case, then. Okay? I'm not trying to break you two up, nor am I trying to steal him from you. I'm not like that. Besides," she paused, swallowing hard, "we're just friends."

She pursed her lips. "Please, you don't even believe that lie."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She turned to leave.

"Lina!" Zuko stopped her, grabbing her hand. "Why don't the three of us sit down and try to talk this out?"

Katalina pulled her hand free. "Have fun on your trip home." And she walked away without even another glance.

"Maybe we should stay in the Fire Nation once we get there," Mai suggested after a few moments of silence.

"Maybe I should just go alone," he said back. "I'm getting real sick of your attitude towards Lina."

"I told you to choose."

"And I told you I wasn't going to. But trust me, you're making the decision a hell of a lot easier."

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"I don't care if you don't like her, Mai. At least, be civil with her. She has shown you nothing but respect."

"Yeah, when you're around."

He shook his head. "She's not like that."

"I can't believe you're defending her over me. You always defend her over me! It's bullshit!"

"She's my best friend!"

"And I'm your girlfriend! Or is she on her way to becoming that, too?"

"No," he denied almost instantly. "You heard her…we're just friends."

"You don't sound too enthused by that."

He sighed. "You're reading too deep into this."

"Am I?"

"Yes!"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this trip goes." She then left.

Zuko fell onto his bed with another heavy sigh. "Lina isn't going to become my girlfriend," he said again to himself. "It doesn't seem she wants to be…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "I wish I could read her mind. Then I'd know if I should feel the way I do."


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two: Plan Altercation

Katalina spent the next few days avoiding the Jasmine Dragon and Zuko again. She kept telling herself that she wouldn't go back until after he and Mai left for the Fire Nation. And the day they were supposed to leave, she found herself loitering by the city's wall with Jet, Jin, Yolanda, Hakara, and Shion.

"This is the first time in a long while just the six of us have spent time together," she pointed out.

"I was thinking the same thing," Hakara replied. "I missed this."

"Well, we've all been so busy with different parts of the city," Yolanda stated. "So it's understandable."

"At least the construction is coming along nicely," Shion said. "Ba Sing Se will be restored to its former glory in no time."

"And then what?" Jet wondered.

"What do you mean?" Jin asked in reply.

"There'll be nothing left for us to do," he explained. "What reason will Lina and I have to stay here? I mean, at this place is home to you three. Lina and I don't have a place to call home."

"You two can stay here and make Ba Sing Se your home," Hakara told him. "I mean, I would hope that your friends are a good enough reason to make you want to stay here."

"I didn't mean it like that," he denied. "Lina?"

"No, I know what you mean," Katalina admitted. "I haven't really given it much thought, though."

"You wouldn't want to return to the Fire Nation and watch it progress?" Yolanda asked.

"The Fire Nation was never my home to begin with. So there's really nothing there for me to go back to."

"What about your parents?" Shion questioned.

"My parents are the reason I'm here. They didn't want me." She paused before shrugging. "Not that it matters."

"Of course it matters!" Jin declared. "Not that the war is over you should try to reconcile with your parents."

"They're probably a part of the frigging riots going on in the Fire Nation right now. Trust me, the last thing they want is reconciliation."

"Speaking of which," Jet started, "doesn't Zuko leave today?"

She nodded her head once. "He does. And he'll probably be gone for at least a month."

"At least Mai will be gone, too."

"Why aren't you going, Lina?" Hakara wondered.

"Because Mai is going."

"That's the only reason?"

"What other reason do I need?"

"A better one than that."

"That's actually a really good reason, Hakara," Jet defended Katalina. "Mai can't stand Lina and she hates it when she's around Zuko."

"Doesn't she trust Zuko?" Jin checked.

"No, it's me she doesn't trust," Katalina responded. She proceeded to roll her eyes. "I mean, it's not like Mai and I ever got along in the first place, but now she's just overreacting about every damn thing. It's actually really pissing me off."

"When was the last time you saw Zuko?" Shion then asked.

"When he got the initial letter that he'd have to go back to the Fire Nation," she answered. "Why?"

"He's coming this way."

She spun on her heel to see Zuko walking towards them. She wanted to run like she had done so many times before, but she felt immobilised. Plus, he had already seen her, so it was too late anyway.

"Hey guys," he greeted them.

"Hey Zuko," Jet replied first. "We thought you were leaving today."

"I am," he confirmed. "I needed to speak with Lina before I left, though."

"Mai can't be too pleased with this," Katalina mumbled.

"Can you guys excuse us, please?" he then asked.

"Of course we can," Yolanda said.

She and the others walked away, leaving Katalina and Zuko alone.

"Were you just going to avoid me until I left and came back?" he assumed.

"That was the original plan," she admitted.

"Well, I'm changing your plans."

"What do you mean?"

"Mai got sick the other night," he told her. "And she's still too sick to travel, but Uncle really doesn't want me going back to the Fire Nation alone."

"Then go with Aang or Sokka or someone."

"Lina, will you please just come with me?"

"You do know that I'm not willingly avoiding you, right? I'm just trying to save your relationship. And my going with you isn't going to help that."

He looked down, his jaw clenched. "It's not your relationship to save," he told her. "Nor are you destroying it. Mai's doing a fine job at that all on her own."

"Zuko, you really shouldn't say shit like that."

"Say shit like the truth, you mean?" He sighed, shaking his head. "I know how prone you are to lying and keeping secrets, Lina, but I'm not like that. I—"

"You value honesty," she cut him off. "I know."

"Well, this is all beside the point," he went on. "The point is that I should've left already, but I came to find you first because I really want you to come back with me. And so does Uncle."

She folded her arms across her chest. "I just don't think it would be a very good idea."

"Come on, I'm asking you as a friend."

That's what she had been afraid of. And it's what she had been waiting for. She kept avoiding his gaze until she finally just closed her eyes, keeping her head down and hanging low. Suddenly, there was a hand cupping her cheek and it lifted her head. She opened her eyes to lock with Zuko's gaze. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Please," he said shortly, his voice soft. Katalina couldn't form any words. So instead she just slightly nodded her head. He smiled now. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me," she forced out the words, though they were almost inaudible.

"C'mon, we really need to get going now," he replied, still smiling. He then kissed her forehead before turning and rushing back in the other direction.

Katalina remained still as the others rejoined her.

"What the hell just happened?" Jet questioned.

"I don't really know," she admitted. "But I guess I'll see you guys again in about a month." And she hurried after her best friend. "A month alone with Zuko," she said to herself. "This could either ruin us or make us."


	24. Chapter 23: Return to the Fire Nation

The ship was almost at the Fire Nation now. Katalina and Zuko's first trip was just about over. And the time spent between just the two of them wasn't as awkward as she feared it would have been. It was actually close to be just like old times.

But now she was standing at the bow of the show, looking toward her so-called home nation. She closed her eyes, sighing.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, coming up beside her.

"This is the one place I swore I would never return to," she answered. "I promised myself I would stay away from here." She opened her eyes. "And now here I am, not even a year later. Not even half a year later."

"Well, it's not like you came back here on your own. You came back here because I asked you to come with me."

"That doesn't matter. I still come back."

He paused. "Hopefully it won't take long."

"No kidding."

He chuckled a bit. "C'mon, the ship will be docking soon."

"Okay."

The two of them made their way to where the ship's gangplank would be lowered. Fire Nation citizens were all lined up on the left and right sides of the ground.

"Zuko, what if they all get the impression that we're a couple?" she asked him quietly.

"Let them think whatever they want," he whispered back. He then held his arm out for her.

Smiling it, Katalina took it. And together they walked down the gangplank. As they walked past the two lines, the citizens bowed for them.

"This is kinda weird," she admitted, still speaking with a low voice.

"Yeah, I'm not even used to it," he replied. "And I pretty much grew up with this behaviour."

She laughed to herself and they continued along.

"All right," Zuko started once they were away from everyone else, "what do we do first?"

"We find a group of rioters," Katalina decided. "We'll pose as two of them and find out what the problem is."

"That doesn't sound very smart. What if someone recognises us?"

"Then we'll cover our faces."

"Lina, I don't know—"

"Zuko, shut up." She laughed out loud. "To understand the people, you need to be the people. You need to walk among then, not just watch them from your stupid throne."

"See? You're already better at this than I am."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not. I just have a good few years of noting all of Ozai's mistakes as Fire Lord. So I know the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do when in power."

"Hands down, you are the best friend ever."

"Shut up," she repeated. She turned away from him, hiding her reddening cheeks. "Now, let's go find us a riot."

"Where should we look for one?" he questioned.

"They'll most likely be near the palace," she answered. "I just don't remember which direction that's in."

"This way." He pointed to their left. "That I know for sure. I remember the long walk Uncle and I took after I was banished." He took a deep breath.

She nodded her head once in reply. "Let's get moving." She then started to their left.

Zuko swiftly followed after her. "Why in such a hurry?" he asked her. "You're practically running."

"Don't you wanna get this done and over with, too?"

"I guess, but—"

"Then we'll be quick about it," she decided. "Or at least we'll be as quick as we possibly can be."

They continued towards the palace. Soon enough, they came across a large group of angry Fire Nation citizens.

"Here's our target," Katalina stated. "You ready for this?"

"What happened to the idea of covering our faces?"

"While on our way here I decided that we actually shouldn't do that." She faced him. "That'll only make you look like a coward for hiding among your own people and not just walking with them freely. And you are not a coward, Zuko." She turned away from him. "Your father was the coward." She looked back at him, but only turned her head. "So," she smiled, "are you ready?"

He nodded. "Let's do this."

With that said, they entered the group of rioters. They asked around for the one leading the riot and soon found the person. The lead rioter was a man a couple decades older than them.

"Excuse me, sir!" Katalina called over to him.

"What is it, young lady?"

"I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Why are we rioting again? I mean, I know we're rioting against the new Fire Lord and his ways, but why? What don't we like about him?"

"Yeah, Zuko continued. "The only thing he's done is end the war, which the world needed. So what's so bad about that? And what more do you have to hold against him?"

"He doesn't even live here in the Fire Nation!" the man replied. "Instead he lives over in Ba Sing Se!"

"I don't see a problem in that," she denied.

"If there's a problem here that needs fixing, then he'll always be at least a couple weeks away from being able to resolve it!"

"It's a temporary arrangement," Zuko stated. "Besides, that only gives us more freedom for the time being," he then pointed out. "He's not constantly watching over us. He's letting us live and he's staying out of our personal lives and giving us time to adjust to the change."

"Fire Lord Zuko is a good man," she concluded. "Why can't you see that?"

The man eyed the two of them skeptically. Then he gasped. "You!" he yelled. "You are the new Fire Lord!"

All of the rioters turned to face Katalina and Zuko. They were now literally in the middle of the situation.

"Before this gets out of hand," Katalina began again, "just listen to what he has to say." And she stepped down.

"Look," Zuko took over, raising his voice, "I know this may seem like prying, but I was only trying to figure out why you are rioting against me. And so far, it seems that you're only angry with me because I don't live here in the Fire Nation. Like I said, though, it's only temporary. I'm living in Ba Sing Se until the Avatar and I can decide what to do about the Colonies there. Once that's all settled, I'll be back here for good. Just because I'm not here now, though, doesn't mean I'm clueless. And I wanna be the best Fire Lord I can be, so if you have any complaints, please just come and talk with me directly. And while I'm not here, send a letter to Ba Sing Se and I will jump on a ship to come here right away. I want everything to be sorted lout and I want everyone to be satisfied. So please, talk to me because I am more than willing to listen."

There was a silence among the rioters, but soon they all broke out into a loud applause.

Katalina smiled at this and walked up to Zuko. "See? You're a natural." She turned towards the rioters. "Excuse me!" she yelled over the ongoing applause. They all put their eyes on her now. "Fire Lord Zuko still needs to take care of the other riot groups. Could you help him find them and get them settled down?" Everyone cheered their answers. She smiled again. "Great!" She faced Zuko again. "As for me, I have somewhere else I need to be."

"Where could that be?" he wondered.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "I'll meet up with you later."


	25. Chapter 24: Another Homeless House

Katalina's old Fire Nation house was still standing tall. The house looked as nice as it did when Katalina lived there, too. That was only the outside, though. She headed up the walkway. She stopped in front of the door, hesitating to knock on it. But she did anyway. And there was no answer. So instead she just walked right inside. It looked exactly the same, except now it was vacant. That was something she hadn't been expecting. Despite the emptiness, though, there wasn't a single speck of dust anywhere. She couldn't believe it. She thought she'd be coming back to yelling and sneers. Instead she came back to nothing. And she actually thought that that was worse. Still, she remained inside. She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. She look around, remembering her life growing up in the house. A lost childhood since she had to grow up all too rapidly. Then she made her way upstairs. She passed her parents' old bedroom and went straight for her own. She opened the door and just stood there, staring into the room. Everything she had left behind had been burned; it was all destroyed. She shouldn't have been the least bit surprised, but it still hurt. So she stepped into her room and sat down on what was left of her old bed. Then her head dropped into her hands as she began to cry.

"Lina?" she then heard a male voice call. "Lina!"

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and made her way back downstairs where she found Zuko.

"There you are," he said when he saw her. "Were you actually able to get here at a time when your parents were out or did they just leave?"

"They're gone," she stated. "They moved out."

"How do you know?"

"Because everything is gone, Zuko." She shook her head. "Ugh, it's like they knew I was gonna be back and they didn't wanna see me that much."

"No, it's because you ended up being right and they probably don't wanna face that."

With her arms folded across her chest, she continued shaking her head, unable to hold back the fresh tears. Without saying anything else, he pulled her into him and held her close. She buried her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. And for a good while they stayed just like that.

"I'm sorry," she finally spoke up, practically choking on the words. "I don't know why I'm reacting like this."

"Because they were still your parents," he replied. "They were shitty people and that hurts." He dried her cheeks and brushed hair out of her face. "You're better than them, though."

She smiled sheepishly. "So," she sniffled, "how did the rest of the riots go?" she wondered.

"They went well," he answered. "Everyone listened to me and the leaders of each group spoke with me."

"Were you able to make any compromises?"

"Yeah, everything's pretty much set now."

She smiled more genuinely now. "See, Zuko? And you were so worried that you wouldn't know what to do. Everyone loves you. You're already twice the Fire Lord that Ozai ever was."

"Yeah, the rioters are actually throwing a part in my honour tomorrow night, as a matter of fact."

"No shit!" She laughed. "Look at that."

"So we'll need to stay another day or two," he then told her.

She nodded. "I think I can manage that."

"Do you think you could also manage being my date tomorrow night?"

"Date?" she repeated. "But isn't that gonna make them think even more that we're together?"

"Like I said, Lina, let them think what they want."

"Zuko—"

"Where do you wanna stay tonight?" he asked, cutting her off and changing the subject.

"I thought we would be staying at the palace," she figured, going along with the change.

"Right. Let's head back over there, then." They started walking back towards the palace. "Oh, and you can see Ozai tomorrow before we go to the party."

"Wait, what?"

"Visit him in prison," he clarified.

"I can do that?"

"I didn't mention that?"

"No! And you should have started with that!"

He laughed. "I'm sorry, I could've sworn I had said something about him."

She sighed, but also laughed. "Either way, I would love to see him before going to the party tomorrow."

"I figured as much."

The rest of walk was spent in silence. Katalina's gaze was turned down for most of it, as she wasn't very interested in her surroundings anymore.

"Here we are," Zuko announced once they arrived at the palace itself.

She looked up to see the forgotten home in front of her. "It looks smaller than I remember."

"You've only been gone for a few months, Lina. Why don't you remember pretty much anything?"

"Because once you were banished I stopped coming here. I had no reason to be here, after all."

"Oh," he replied. He thought for a moment. "C'mon."

They entered the palace. Katalina's head turned this way and that. "Nothing's changed, huh?"

"Nothing at all," he confirmed. "Where do you wanna sleep tonight?"

"Anywhere is fine with me," she replied. "The floor, the bed." She shrugged. "Wherever."

"Well, you're definitely not sleeping on the floor," he denied. "You can just stay in my bed."

"Where will you sleep, then?"

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, no, the Fire Lord deserves to sleep comfortable. Plus, I'm not gonna kick you out of your own bed."

"But you get irritable when you don't have a good night's rest."

An offended look popped on her face. "I do not!"

He laughed. "Yeah, you kinda do."

"Oh, shut up." She pushed him away from her, laughing a little. "How about we both sleep on the floor?" she then suggested. "It'll be just like the old days."

"Sounds good," he agreed. "And maybe tomorrow we can go on an adventure. But this time, try not to fall off the sides of any cliffs."

"You remember that?"

"How could I forget? I saved your life!" He laughed. "You should be thankful that I was there to catch you."

"I am thankful," she told him, smiling. "Trust me."

He smiled back. "So what are you gonna say to my father when you see him tomorrow?" he questioned, changing the subject.

She shrugged. "Haven't given it much thought yet."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Well, you can wait outside the cell door or whatever. I wanna actually see the man alone, though. And before you even ask, yes, I am sure about that."

"All right, if you say so."

"I do say so."

"Hey, follow me." He then turned and started to the right side of the palace. "I wanna show you something."

Katalina did as he asked and followed him. "What is it you want to show me?" she asked once she caught up with him.

"You'll see when we get there."

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Why can't you just wait?"

"Zuko, you very well know I don't like surprises," she reminded her. "Can you please just tell me?"

"Nope."

And that was that. So they continued down the wide hallway. They soon came to a set of doors.

"I know you haven't been here since I was banished," Zuko started, "but do these doors look familiar to you?"

She shrugged, shaking her head. "Not really, no."

"All right, well, come on." And he opened the doors…


	26. Chapter Twenty-Five: Under the Sky

Light poured onto Katalina. She squinted her eyes as she continued to follow Zuko through the doors. And when her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw where they were.

"The courtyard," she said, smiling. "The one nice place in the entire palace and it's not even inside."

He laughed. "This place hasn't changed either."

"Yeah, I can tell." She walked over to the small pond and knelt down beside it. "This is where I first learned I could firebend."

He sat down beside her. "That's right," he recalled. He laughed, shaking his head, "Even I remember that day."

"Well, you should. You were the one who told me to give it a shot in the first place."

"I know, I know." He laughed some more. "Azula was so pissed."

"I know! I was just gonna say, do you remember her face when she saw me bend for the first time? Hah! That was priceless."

"Yeah, that was definitely a good day."

"And then training begun and that was hell," she stated.

"No kidding."

They then fell silent. Katalina played with the water in the pond while Zuko just watched her.

"Sokka told me that you freed the Avatar's bison back in Ba Sing Se," she changed the subject, breaking the silence. She looked back towards him. "What made you do that?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know. I was going through a lot of changes then and I was really confused about a lot of things and…" he sighed, trailing off. "I just don't know."

"And there's nothing wrong with that so don't worry about it. I mean, you were obviously able to get out of that confusion."

"Yeah, but I had to return here before I managed to do that. I had to betray Uncle before I managed to do that."

"But you still found your way and that's what matters. Besides, Iroh had clearly forgiven you."

"I still feel bad about what I did, though."

"You shouldn't, Zuko. That's in the past now. And what happened to leaving the past in the past?"

He rolled his eyes at her, but smiled. "So you're using my own words against me now, huh?"

"I had to."

"Oh, of course." He chuckled some more. "We should get back inside," he then suggested, standing up. "It's getting dark out."

"Why not just stay out here tonight?" she wondered, laying back on the ground. "Why not sleep under the stars?"

"Do you want to?"

"I think it'd be nice."

"Very well." He sat back down. "I guess we're staying out here, then."

"We should also stay up all night like we used to."

"Lina, we're not kids anymore."

"Zuko, we're like sixteen and seventeen. So yes, we are still kids."

He sighed. "We have that party tomorrow night, so we need to sleep tonight."

She thought for a moment. "You're very first party as Fire Lord," she then pointed out. "Are you upset you can't attend it with Mai?"

"Lina—"

"I'm not trying to start anything! I'm asking a legitimate question."

"Well, you know Mai," he replied. "She's not really the party type."

"And you are?"

"Shut up."

She laughed. "C'mon, I'm sure she would still be willing to attend a part with you."

"I'm not sure if she would really enjoy it, though."

"So are you gonna mention tomorrow's party to her?"

"Why should I? Not like she would care."

"All right, if you say so."

"Let's just try to get some sleep now."

"It's not even dark yet, Zuko! At least wait until the moon rises."

"You're really stubborn, you know that?"

"I learned from the best." She gestured to him, smiling.

"Shut up," he said again, shooing her arm away from him. "I am not stubborn." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Not as stubborn as you, at least."

"Fine, I'll let you have this one," she gave in. "So Ozai was locked up in prison and Azula went insane, right?" she changed the subject again.

"Right," he confirmed. "She just completely lost it."

"Is there a chance I'd be able to see her while we're here."

He shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"I thought so, but figured I'd ask anyway." She shrugged it off. "Oh well. Ozai is good enough for me."

"Are you gonna rub it in his face that he lost the war?"

"No, I am going to act maturely when I visit him."

"You? Mature? Hah!"

"Shut up," she stole his words. "I can be mature."

He laughed. "Either way, he's gonna love seeing you again," he stated, a puddle of sarcasm surrounding him.

"He should love seeing me again. He should be honoured that I'm going to visit him even after everything he put me through."

"It couldn't have been as bad as what he put me through."

"You don't know how he treated me after your initial banishment, Zuko. You don't know what he did to me."

He sat up straight. "Then tell me what he did to you."

She shook her head. "No, you'll overreact."

"No I won't."

"I know you, Zuko. So yes, you will."

"Please tell me what he did to you, Lina. And I promise to remain calm about the situation."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Fine." She sat up as well, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Well, he did to me what he did to you," she informed him.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you're not the only one who got burned by Ozai." She pulled her hair away from her neck to reveal the scar on the back of it. "He burned your eye when you were in front of him, and then he burned my neck when I had my back turned to him."

Zuko's eyes widened. "He did that to you?"

"You promised you wouldn't overreact, so don't make a big deal out of this." She let go of her hair, allowing it to fall back around her face. "And don't mention it to any of the others."

"Am I the only one who knows?"

"No," she admitted. "Iroh, Jet, Jin, Yolanda, Hakara, and Shion all know."

"When exactly did he do that to you?"

"Before you left."

"What?"

"I confronted him about what he did and he didn't like that. Then I told him that I was gonna go with you and he liked that even less. Burning me was how he kept me here. And I made sure he regretted it."

"He had no right to burn you."

"He had no right to burn you, either."

"Yes he did." He lowered his voice. "I made a fool of him in front of all those War Ministers. I disrespected him and spoke out of term."

"You're joking, right? Ugh! Ozai made a fool of himself by burning his own son! You did not make a fool of him. You showed honour and bravery by not fighting him."

"How?"

"Because you stepped down for a damn good reason, Zuko. You didn't want to fight your father and that's okay. And if you did fight him, then you would have come out with a lot worse than just a scar on your eye."

His head was hanging low. "I wanna believe you, but…" he trailed off. "Why do I still feel this way?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. You shouldn't, though. Plus, it happened over three years ago now. So stop worrying about it. You're the Fire Lord now and Ozai is behind bars. Everything is the way it should be."

"You really think so?"

She smiled now. "Of course I do."

He smiled back. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." She lay back down. "Come on."

He lay back down back as well. And the two friends lay in silence. They stared up into the sky, transforming from day to night.

"This really does feel like the old says," Zuko spoke up. "I mean, it's like we have actually gone back in time eight or nine years."

"Doesn't it, though?" Katalina sighed deeply. "Things are very different now, though."

"But things have differed for the better."

"I guess they have." She chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Just being here is all."

"Under the circumstances, you mean?"

She nodded. "It just proves how destiny works in funny ways."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's very ironic. I mean, did you really ever expect to make it here?"

He chuckled. "I get what you mean." He paused. "What else do you think destiny will throw at us?"

"Who knows? I mean, after everything that's happened I believe that pretty much anything is possible."

"Anything?" he repeated. "That's a wide range of possibilities."

"Well…" Katalina trailed off, thinking. She noted Zuko lying beside her. She noted that he was with Mai. "Maybe not anything."


	27. Chapter Twenty-Six: Love

Katalina opened her eyes the next morning to see a bright blue sky above her. She sat up, stretching and yawning. She looked beside her to see that Zuko was still sleeping. She smiled at him, but tried not to laugh. Then she turned away from him and hugged her knees tightly. She continued to smile a small yet noticeable smile.

"What are you so happy about?" Zuko suddenly asked her.

She turned her head to see him still lying down, but now with his hands resting behind his head.

"What? A girl can't smile?" she replied.

He laughed. "That's not what I meant."

"I don't know, then. I'm just smiling."

He looked her up and down suspiciously. "What did you do to me?"

"Excuse me? I didn't do anything to you!" she exclaimed. She then smiled widely. "You're cute when you sleep, though. You seem so at peace."

"Thank you?"

She laughed. "You're welcome."

He smiled, too, now. "So when do you wanna go see Ozai?"

"Pretty soon, I guess," she answered. "I mean, I wanna have time to get ready for the party." She smiled again.

"I figured as much." He shook his head. "So we'll get ready for the day, and then we'll head out."

"Sounds good to me."

He nodded his head once. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept fine, thanks for asking. What about you?"

"For sleeping on the ground, yeah, I slept pretty damn well."

"That's good."

"Yeah." He paused. "Let's get inside."

"Oh, you have servants that can bring us breakfast, don't you?" she recalled. "I guess that's a nice little advantage. And Mai must love that."

"Mai?"

She eyed him peculiarly. "Your girlfriend…"

"Oh! Right."

"Yeah, that girl. You know, the one you're in love with."

"In love with?" he repeated, sounding dumbstruck by the statement.

"What? You're not in love with her?"

"Honestly…no, I couldn't say that I'm in love with her," he admitted. "I mean, I do love her, but I'm definitely not in love with her."

"Definitely? That's a pretty strong statement."

"So is saying you're in love with someone."

"Touché." She paused. "Do you think it's a possibility?"

"I already told you, Lina."

"Told me what?"

"Her attitude towards you has really been pissing me off. I mean, she actually wants me to choose between you and her. I can't do that, though."

"But you would choose her, right?"

He sighed. "I won't be choosing."

She nodded, thinking for a moment. "So you think there's a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone?"

"Of course there is," he stated. "Being in love with someone is knowing you could spend the rest of your life with that one person."

She couldn't help but to smile at that. "Good answer."

He smiled back. "C'mon."

Zuko got to his feet and held out his hand. Katalina took it and he helped her up. He then turned to head inside, stilling holding her hand, but she didn't move.

"Lina, what are you doing?" he wondered.

She smiled again. "Nothing."

"Why aren't you moving?"

Her smile widened. Then before he could say another word, she pulled at him and leaned back, sending them both tumbling into the pond.

"Lina!" he exclaimed.

She laughed. "Aren't you so glad you brought me along?"

He remained quiet before bursting out in laughter. "I hate you so much!"

She laughed more as well. "Why? Because I bring fun into your life?"

He shook his head, still laughing as he tried to sit back up. She pulled him down again, though, pinning him. But it didn't take much for him to push her off and turn it around and pin her down. And they kept laughing until their eyes locked and they held each other's gaze. Then the next thing they knew, their noses were lightly touching.

"Zuko," she whispered. "We should get going."

He swallowed hard. "Right." He sat back on his knees before getting back up. "We have a long day ahead of us."


	28. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Prison Visit

By midday, Katalina and Zuko were on their way to visit Ozai. They were walking in silence and they weren't making eye contact. The incident earlier was bothering her and she was sure it was bothering him just as much. Neither of them wanted to talk about it, though.

"Why didn't you send Ozai to the Boiling Rock?" she asked simply to break the tense silence.

"Because once I move back here I can keep a better eye on him with him still in the Fire Nation."

"When do you think you'll be moving back here?"

"I really don't know."

"Do you plan on looking at me again today?"

He sighed, dropping his head. "I'm sorry," he replied. "I'm just a little freaked out by what happened this morning. Or what almost happened, I should say."

"Nothing almost happened," she denied.

"What? You're just going to ignore it?"

"I can't ignore something that never happened because it never happened."

"Right. Of course."

"You can't go to that party tonight while you're mad."

"You mean we can't."

"I'm not mad. You are."

"I'm not, either. Maybe I'm a little upset, but I'm not angry or anything."

"What's the difference?"

"Have you figured out what you're going to say to Ozai yet?" he asked in reply, changing the subject rather than answering the question.

"I think I have it figured out for the most part," she answered, going along with the change, as usual. "I guess we'll see how it all plays out."

"Well, it's not like he can do anything to you," he reminded her.

"I know." She paused. "So while Aang was fighting Ozai and you were dueling Azula, what were Sokka and the others doing?"

"Katara came with me to help me deal with Azula. Then Sokka, Toph, and Suki handled the fleet of airships that were making their way to Ba Sing Se."

"And of course Iroh was with the White Lotus in Ba Sing Se taking care of the Colonies."

"As were you."

She nodded. "How was fighting Azula when she was losing it?"

"Not very pleasant," he admitted. "I did most of fighting so that Katara wouldn't get hurt. But then when Azula struck me with lightning—"

"She what?"

"Uncle taught me how to redirect lightning," he explained. "I've only used the ability twice. Once against my father, and then again with Azula. Except when I used it against Azula, I did it wrong because she ended up aiming at Katara rather than aiming it at me. Either way, once that happened Katara had to finish her off. Then Katara was able to heal me afterwards."

"You're lucky she has healing abilities"

"Tell me about it." He shook his head. "I'm just glad it's over."

"You can say that again," she agreed.

The two of them finally arrived at the prison hold. They walked inside, the guards bowing to them as they passed.

"Ozai's on the very top floor," Zuko informed Katalina.

She nodded in response. They then started up the long stairwell. They reached the top floor where there was only one door; the door leading to Ozai's cell.

"Are you ready for this?" he checked.

"What? To see Ozai behind bars? Oh, I've always been prepared for this."

He smiled. "All right. I'll be right out here if you need me."

She nodded again. "All right." She turned away from him and headed towards the door. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then she opened it and stepped into the small room. And there was Ozai, lying on the floor behind bars, his head hanging low. "Well, well, well," she announced her presence, smirking, "looks like you're finally where you belong."

The ex-Fire Lord lifted his head to face her. "Katalina Palmer," he said. "I must say I'm surprised to see you here. I figured once I sent you to Ba Sing Se you would never return here."

"I wasn't going to. But Zuko had to come back and he asked me to come back with him. So I did."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a good friend. Then of course seeing you in your rightful place now is just a nice bonus."

"Of course," he repeated, sneering.

"You look terrible, by the way." She chuckled darkly. "And that's all because of the Avatar."

"You must be so proud of him."

"I guess you could say that. Though, I'm more proud of your son for standing up to you."

"You would be."

"You got what was coming to you, Ozai. This is exactly what you deserve."

"And of course you would think that."

"Of course," she repeated, just like he had before. She shook her head. "I do have to give the Avatar my props, though. I mean, taking away your bending was just pure brilliance."

"You should be lucky he was able to do that."

"Is that a threat?"

"Yes, it is. If I had my bending right now, I would finish you off. That's what I should've done those three years ago."

"But you didn't now, did you? And that was your mistake. One of many, I would say."

"What others mistakes did I make?"

She shrugged. "Why should I tell you? You should be able to figure them out for yourself. Besides, you need something to think about while you're locked in here for the rest of your life."

"If you're talking about burning and disowning my son, then I assure you that wasn't a mistake."

"Actually, I'll have to agree with you there," she admitted. "Your biggest mistake was screwing over your daughter. Trust me on that."

"Trust you? I would never do such a foolish thing as that."

"Right, because you're clever and not at all a fool." Sarcasm had now taken control of her harsh voice.

He shot her a dirty look. "Why are you wasting your time here?"

"Excuse me? You should be honoured that I took the time to pay you a visit," she replied. She chuckled some more. "You should be thankful that I didn't finish you off before the Avatar even had a chance."

"Why didn't you?"

"Perhaps for the same reason you didn't finish me off. Or maybe simply because I knew that it was still the Avatar's destiny to finish you, no matter how much I wanted to. And let me tell you, after you burned Zuko it was even more difficult for me to restrain myself from killing you."

He laughed deeply. "I find that very hard to believe. You were only a thirteen-year-old girl. You wouldn't have dared gone up against me."

"Is that so? Yet you were too afraid to attack me head-on; you had to wait until I had my back turned on you." She folded her arms across her chest. "Why is that?" She smirked and he sneered again in response. "Either way, I'm just satisfied in knowing you're exactly where you should be; off the throne you abused and in a cage." With that, she turned on her heel and walked back through the door. "We can go now," she told Zuko.

The two headed back down the long stairwell. Katalina was walking briskly as she now wanted to just get out of there. And as they exited the prison hold, the guards bowed to them again. But once they were outside, she still didn't slow down.

"Lina," Zuko said softly. He managed to put one hand on her shoulder. She froze when he did so. He turned her towards him and put his other hand on her other shoulder. "What happened in there? What did Ozai say to you?"

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "It was no big deal. Really."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Well, did you at least tell him everything you wanted to say?"

"Yeah, I actually did manage to pretty much fit in everything." She smiled. "And saying all of it to him felt really good, too."

He smiled back. "I'm glad you feel better."

"What did you say to him the first time you visited him?" she then asked.

He shrugged, his arms dropping to his sides. "Not much."

"Not much?" she repeated.

"Well, I did ask him where my mother is, but—"

"What?" she cut him off in exclamation. "And that's not much? Zuko! That's a lot!" She laughed in disbelief. "Did he tell you?"

"He did."

"So you know where your mother is."

"I know where she could be."

"Why haven't you gone looking for her yet?" she wondered. "I mean, I could go with you to where she possibly is."

"Trust me, Lina, I wanna go find her. It's just that I don't know how it would go. And I have so much other shit to deal with right now."

"This is your mother we're talking about. She should come before everything else. And you know it would go well. Ursa loved you more than anything."

"I know that. She wasn't there when Ozai burned me, though."

"What does that matter? I never saw the scar until three years after you got it, too," she pointed out.

"But you were still there when it happened, so you knew that I was going to have one."

"Zuko, your mother isn't going to judge you on your scar. She isn't going to stop loving you because of the scar. I mean, is that what you're afraid of?"

"I'm afraid of how she'll react."

"She'll react like it isn't even there. That's how I reacted."

"You did act pretty normal when we met again," he recalled. "I mean, you didn't even ask me about it. You just sorta pointed it out and moved on."

"Well, there was nothing about it to ask. Plus, I didn't want to bring forth any painful memories."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

She smiled again. "C'mon, let's head back," she suggested. "We have a party to prepare for."


	29. Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Celebration

As the sun was beginning to set, Katalina and Zuko were making their way to the party the rioters were holding. They were dressed casually to fit in better with them, but they still looked nice.

"So where is this party?" Katalina wondered.

"I dunno the name of the place," Zuko admitted. "It's that event hall where all the important celebrations are held."

"Ah, that place." She laughed. "That would make sense."

"I can't tell if you're mocking me or not."

"You'll never know." She winked at him teasingly.

He smiled back at her. "You're a pain in the ass."

"You chose to be my friend."

"I was five!"

"You chose to keep me as your friend," she quickly corrected herself, laughing as she spoke.

Now he rolled his eyes at her, though he was still smiling. "You're just acting like this because you're with me."

"Oh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You need to be the centre of attention over me."

"Well, look at your, Mr. Conceited," she responded. "Don't go getting a big, Zuko. It'll do you no good."

He laughed. "I'll take your word on that." They then arrived at the event building. "Are you ready for this?"

"You've asked me that a lot over the last two days. And my answer is always the same."

"Then I should reiterate the fact that you should let them—"

"—think what they want," she finished for him. "I know."

With that, the two of them entered the building. And almost instantly, everyone in the room turned their attention on them.

"Give a warm welcome to our honoured guests!" a male voice began, speaking loud enough for his voice to carry across the room. "Fire Lord Zuko and Katalina Palmer!"

"Wait, they're honouring me, too?" Katalina questioned Zuko.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" he asked in reply. "It's quite surprising how admired you are here in the Fire Nation. But everyone seems to love and respect you for your courage and willingness to fight for what you believed in."

"Zuko!" she exclaimed quietly, elbowing him as discreetly as she could. "You very well know I don't like surprises! I even reminded you of that yesterday!"

He laughed a little. "Relax, Lina. This is a good surprise."

They then made their way down the aisle that had been formed for them.

"No one is bowing," she pointed out.

"I told them not to," he informed her. They made their way to the other end of the building and the rioters went on with the party. "I also told them to address me just as Zuko, not as Fire Lord Zuko," he added.

"That man just announced you as Fire Lord Zuko, though."

"Because that was an introduction. But other than that, I told them to just call me Zuko when we're one-on-one."

She smiled. "That's a really good idea, not using any labels." She put her hand to her heart. "What would your dear father say about this?" Sarcasm echoed in her voice.

"He'd probably burn my other eye."

The hand over her heart then covered her mouth. "Shut up!" She hit his shoulder. "That's not something to joke about!"

"C'mon Lina, it's my eye," he replied. "Lighten up."

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day where you're telling me to lighten up." She laughed.

"Well, now you have."

"Katalina! Zuko!" a male voice then called out to them.

"Is that who I think it is?" she thought aloud.

"Oh, it is," he confirmed.

The owner of the voice then hurried up to his old friends. "Wow, I never thought I would see you two again," he stated.

"Liam Busch," she replied. She smiled. "It's good to see you again."

"Yeah, it's great to see you, too. You're looking beautiful as ever." He returned the smile, along with a wink. "And you, Zuko. It's been three years, hasn't it?"

"Well, I haven't seen you since I was banished three years ago. So yeah, it's been three years."

"Wow," he breathed. "It's amazing how time flies. And when was the last time I saw you, Lina?"

She shrugged. "A few months ago? I don't really remember."

"You were sent over to Ba Sing Se with the Colonies, right? And I didn't see you before that, so it's probably been a good year or so."

"It's been that long? I had no idea."

Liam shook his head. "When I heard you were going to Ba Sing Se I thought for sure that I would never see you again. The entire Fire Nation thought so, as a matter of fact."

She laughed. "I wouldn't have come back if it weren't for Zuko."

"So Liam, what have you been up to?" Zuko then asked.

"Nothing, really," he answered. "Adjusting."

"Oh, why are you even here?" Katalina questioned.

"My parents forced me into becoming a part of these riot groups. If I had had the choice, though, then trust me, I wouldn't have been rioting against Zuko."

"Don't worry, we believe you," she assured him.

"So when are you two heading back to Ba Sing Se?" he wondered.

"Probably tonight," Zuko answered.

"You're not even gonna wait till morning?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Someone's a little eager to get out of here." He nudged Katalina playfully.

"Oh, well, that's understandable. I mean, I really don't blame you. But I'm gonna go mingle with people. So I'll catch up with you two later. Save a dance for me, Lina." He winked at her again before turning away from them and rejoining the crowd of people.

Katalina chuckled a bit. "Liam Busch," she said again. "I never thought I'd see him again, either."

"Why? You don't miss your ex-boyfriend?" Zuko asked teasingly.

"That has nothing to do with it."

"Well, he seems to miss you." He looked around the room. "Maybe some of your other exes are here, too."

"Why did you hate everyone I dated?" she wondered.

"I did not hate all of them," he denied. "You're exaggerating."

"No, Zuko, you hated them all. Name one of my boyfriends you were actually friends with. And I don't mean before or after I dated him. I mean while I was dating him."

He thought for a moment. "Well, there was—no," he stopped himself. He went on thinking. "Oh, what about—? Nope, not him, either." He continued to think.

"Don't strain yourself."

"You know, we were only twelve!" he then exclaimed. "None of them should have been considered your boyfriend anyway."

She laughed again. "So why didn't you like any of them?"

"I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders. "You just deserved better than all of those guys."

She smiled. "Zuko, all of those guys came from high-ranked families."

"So what? That doesn't mean anything. That doesn't say anything about them personally."

"Oh, I see. You were just jealous of all those other guys, right?"

"I was not!"

"I'm only joking. Calm down."

He shook his head. "Do you wanna dance?" he then asked her.

"What?"

"Do you wanna dance?" he repeated.

"Zuko, this is a kind of slow song."

"What does that matter?"

He held out his hand for her. She smiled and took it. They made their way to the dance floor. There were a lot of other couples dancing, too. And a few people even stopped to watch Katalina and Zuko.

"You're a horrible dancer," she said bluntly after a little while.

"Thanks, you're such a great friend," he replied sarcastically.

She laughed. "I'm sorry, but you are."

"Well, you like to dance. So I'll learn if I have to."

She held back a blush. "You would learn to dance for me?"

He nodded. "Of course I would."

"Zuko," she smiled again, "that's sweet of you."

He smiled back. Then he leaned into her. "You're blushing," he whispered in her ear, and he leaned out again.

"Shut up," she replied.

They continued to dance until the song was over. And when it was, all eyes were on them again. Then the same man who had announced their arrival said, "Give it up for the lovely couple!"

"Couple?" Katalina repeated. "Oh, no, we're not—" she started, but Zuko cut her off…by kissing her. "—together," she then finished once he pulled away. "But that might make them think otherwise," she added so only he could hear.

The crowd broke into applause.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" he checked with her.

"Please," she replied.

He nodded and faced the people. "Thank you all for the party, but we really best be going now."

And they swiftly made their way out of the building.

"What was that?" Katalina yelled once they were outside. "Seriously! What the hell was that? Why did you just kiss me? What told you that was a good frigging idea?"

"I'm sorry!" he yelled back. "I didn't mean to! I don't know what come over me! It's just that the moment felt…right."

"The moment felt right?" she repeated. "I don't care! Do you remember Mai? Yeah, she's your girlfriend!"

"I know who she is, Lina."

"Really? Because you didn't seem to remember her back in there! Ugh!" She covered her face with her hands. "Why did you have to do that?"

"I'm sorry, Lina. I truly am."

She stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do or say. Then she sighed, letting her hands drop from her face. "I guess now you probably really don't want Mai to know about this party."

"You're not going to tell her?"

"And make her hate me even more than she already does?" She shook her head. "No. If she's going to know then it'll be because you told her."

"Do you think I should tell her?"

"Well, you don't seem to be very confident in the relationship anyway. Telling her would probably be the perfect way to end it."

"But that would kill her."

"Then I don't know what to tell you, Zuko!"

"Hey!" Liam suddenly shouted. They turned to see him running their war. He was smiling. "Hey, I always knew you two would end up together."

"We're not together!" they replied in unison.

"You're not? What about that kiss, though?"

"It wasn't supposed to happen," Katalina told him.

"No, it wasn't," Zuko confirmed. "I'm actually involved with Mai."

"You're with Mai?" His eyes widened. "Uh-oh, somebody's in trouble with his girlfriend when he gets home." He laughed.

"It's not funny, Liam," she replied. "Nor is it any of your damn business."

He stopped laughing. "Oh. Sorry." He paused. "Well, do you wanna dance with me now, then?" he then asked her, flashing her a smile.

"We actually have to get going," Zuko stated, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him. "It was nice seeing you again." He and Katalina then hurried away. "I don't recall him being that annoying."

"He was only trying to lighten the mood," she said.

"Well, it didn't work."

"You can let go of me now," she then pointed out.

That was when he realised he still had his arm around her. So he moved away from her. "Sorry."

"What was that even about?"

"What?"

"Back there with Liam and you not wanting me to dance with him."

"You said you wanted to go."

"But why did you have to hold me like that?"

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed.

"Calm down!" she yelled back. "I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is going on!"

"So am I!" A look of desperation swept over his face before his head dropped into his hands. "I'm so sorry."

"Maybe we should just leave in the morning," she then suggested, her voice soft. "I think we both need the night to rest."

He nodded in agreement. "Let's get back to the palace," he said. "And I am sorry, Lina."

"Stop apologising, Zuko," she told him. "Just drop the subject."

And so they did.


	30. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Lies and Secrets

The following night was a long one. Zuko stayed in his old room while Katalina stayed in Azula's old room. She didn't sleep, though. She couldn't. All she could think about was the kiss. Then Zuko came into the room before daybreak.

"Lina?" he whispered.

"I'm awake," she replied.

"C'mon, let's head out now," he said.

She nodded and crawled out of bed. The two of them then made their way through the Fire Nation and to the ship. Everything was quiet and so were they. She kept sneaking glances at the young man beside her, but he was looking straight ahead with a blank look on his face.

"Did you sleep well?" she spoke up.

"Fine," he answered shortly.

"Zuko, please don't be like this."

"Like what?"

She folded her arms across her chest. "Never mind."

He sighed. "I just don't know what to do."

"Let's do what I do best, then," she replied. "Pretend that it never even happened to begin with."

"No," he denied. "Did it mean anything to you?"

"What?"

"Did the kiss mean anything to you?"

"Did it mean anything to you?"

"I'm serious, Lina!"

"So am I!"

He let out another heavy sigh. "Please, just cooperate with me this one frigging time."

She paused. "I didn't feel anything."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

He nodded. "Very well, then."

"What about you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters!"

"Let's just drop it now," he stated.

"Zuko, please, I thought you valued honesty."

"I am being honest."

"Then you should be honest with Mai."

"And ruin my relationship?"

"I thought you said she was already doing that."

"Lina!" he shouted. "I am so done talking about this!"

"Maybe I'm not!"

"Maybe I don't give a shit!"

"What the hell is your problem all of a sudden?"

"My problem is this whole frigging trip!" he admitted. He then shook his head. "I should have never asked you to come with me."

"Well, that's your own damn fault! I told you it would be a bad idea for me to come back with you! But you insisted!"

"Don't try to turn this around on me!"

"Why? I'm not the one to blame! You invited me! You kissed me! You kept telling me to let everyone else think whatever they want! You acted like you didn't give a shit! And now you're trying to pin it all on me!"

"Know what? Let's just get back to the ship and back to Ba Sing Se. Then we can pretend this whole trip never even happened."

"Could've sworn that was the original plan."

And with that, Katalina and Zuko heatedly made the rest of the trek to the ship. They both knew the time it would take to travel back to the city would be dreadful, but they also knew they were good at avoiding each other.

Just like they were good at telling lies and keeping secrets.


	31. Chapter Thirty: Back in Ba Sing Se

The trip back to Ba Sing Se felt even longer than the trip to the Fire Nation. And Katalina and Zuko were successful in avoiding each other the entire time. But since Aang couldn't pick them up on Appa this time, they had to take a train to the city instead. That trip also dragged on.

By the time they finally arrived in the city it was midday. And they still weren't speaking. They weren't even looking at each other. But they were both making their way for the Jasmine Dragon. And when they arrived they saw that everyone was there.

"Welcome back!" Katara greeted them. "How was the trip?"

Neither of them replied. Katalina just sat down near Shion while Zuko made his way over to Mai.

"Were you able to settle the riots?" Aang checked.

"Yeah," Zuko answered shortly, keeping an arm around his girlfriend.

"What was the problem?" Suki wondered.

"Nothing that I couldn't handle," he said back.

"And how did you settle everything?" Sokka asked.

"By talking to them."

"Being Fire Lord sounds really simple," Toph thought aloud.

"Yeah, but I'm really tired, so I'm gonna try to sleep some," Zuko stated. "Weird how I spent so long living on a ship, but now it felt like I had never been on one before." He shook his head. "Good seeing you all again." He kissed Mai on the cheek and went upstairs.

As soon as he was gone, every pair of eyes landed on Katalina.

"Don't even start with me," she spoke up.

"What the hell happened?" Mai questioned.

"You should be ecstatic," she replied.

"And why is that?"

"Because I can assure you that Zuko and I won't be spending much time together anymore."

She looked a little surprise. "I am genuinely curious about what happened."

"Then ask your boyfriend."

She scowled at her before also going upstairs.

"Would you like to explain yourself, Katalina?" Iroh then asked.

"Not really," Katalina denied. "Not much to explain."

"Something obviously happened," Yolanda declared. "So just tell us."

"There's nothing to tell."

"Then what were the riots about?" Shion asked again.

"People were just angry that Zuko doesn't live in the Fire Nation right now." She shrugged. "It was stupid, really."

"And did he really just talk to them to resolve it?" Hakara wondered.

"For the most part, yeah."

"Well, good for him," Jin said.

"Sure," she replied. She paused before sighing. "I'm gonna go for walk." And she got up and left.

She wasn't left alone, though, because Jet and Sokka came after her.

"We want the full story," Jet told her.

"The full story?" she repeated.

"The truthful story," Sokka added.

She nodded. "Zuko and I had a really good time," she then admitted. "I mean, we were able to goof around and it felt just like the old days."

"What happened, then?" Jet wondered.

"Well, after he resolved everything with the rioters, they decided to throw a party in his honour. So naturally we went together. And for the entire trip he kept telling me to let people think whatever they wanted."

"What were they thinking?" Sokka interrupted.

"Probably that Zuko and I were dating. And he didn't seem to care if they thought that or not. Then he kept talking about how Mai was starting to really piss him off and how she was practically ruining the relationship and all this bullshit. And I really didn't know how to respond to any of it. But then at the party…" she trailed off. "An old friend of ours was there and he had flirted with me a bit. Once he walked away, Zuko asked me to dance with him to a slow-paced song. He's not one for dancing, though, but he said that he would learn for me. Then when the song ended…he kissed me." She paused, allowing Jet and Sokka to react. Neither of them said anything, though. "We left right after it happened and I sorta flipped out at him. I mean, it made no sense to me as to why he would've don't it."

"What was his reason?" Sokka questioned.

"He said that the moment felt right."

Jet rolled his eyes. "That's it?"

"That's it," she confirmed. "I also may have told him that it didn't mean anything to me."

"Lina!" they both exclaimed in unison.

"What? I'm not gonna get in the middle of him and Mai!"

"Yeah, it may be a little too late for that," Jet replied.

"Mai," Sokka then said. "What is he gonna tell her?"

"As far as I'm concerned, he may not even tell her at all," she answered.

"He can't do that," he denied.

"He can do whatever he wants, actually."

"Well, he shouldn't do that, then."

She shrugged. "All I know is that I'm done."

"And how many times have you said that now?" Jet thought aloud.

"I'm serious this time. And the way he was just acting with Mai…ugh! I mean, after we left the party we were followed out by that old friend of ours. We told him the situation, and then he asked me to go back inside and dance with him. But Zuko proceeded to wrap his arm around my waist and hold me close to him while denying the request for me." She shook her head. "He's being ridiculous and I just can't deal with it anymore. I don't want to."

"You can't do that," Sokka said again.

"I can do whatever I want, actually," she also repeated the phrase.

"No, she's right," Jet agreed. "Maybe she's been right all along. Here's the thing, though," he smirked, "Jin and I are dating now."

She stopped. "What?"

"That's right! And I believe the deal was that if I told Jin the truth, then you would need to tell Zuko the truth."

She shook her head. "Screw the deal! After this trip there is absolutely no reason for me to tell him the truth. I am happy for you and Jin, though. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone."

"Lina, we shook on it," he reminded her.

"Do you really think I give a shit? Because I don't."

"C'mon Jet, just let her go," Sokka replied. "This is her choice."

"And it's a stupid one."

Katalina kept shaking her head. "No. I'm done with all of this," she declared again. She then turned and walked away from them. "I am so done."


	32. Chapter Thirty-One: Wanting Answers

Zuko was laying on his bed, hands behind his head, staring up at the blank ceiling. He never ended up falling asleep. He couldn't sleep. There was too much on his mind. He felt lost all over again. Then there was a knock at his door and he sat up to see Iroh standing in the doorway.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Iroh checked.

"No," he denied shortly.

He entered the room and sat beside his nephew. "I'm glad everything went well in the Fire Nation."

"Me too."

"Did Katalina see Ozai?"

"She did."

"What did she say to him?"

He shrugged. "I didn't go into the cell with her, so I couldn't tell you what was said between them. But I can tell you that she was satisfied with herself when she came out."

"Good. She must've said everything she wanted to, then."

"Guess so."

"And did you see any familiar faces?"

"We saw Liam Busch."

"Liam Busch," he repeated. "Didn't you hate him the most out of—?"

"I never hated any of those guys," he cut him off. "And I didn't hate them because of Lina. They were all just annoying."

"Right, of course." He paused. "I want you to tell me the truth, Zuko."

Now he sighed, falling back onto his bed. "Nothing happened."

"Clearly something did."

"I'm an idiot, okay? That's what happened."

"What did you do that was so idiotic?"

He paused. "Where's Mai?" he then asked in reply.

"She's downstairs. Why?"

He sat back up. "Because this isn't something I want her to overhear."

"Zuko, what happened?"

His gaze was down. "I kissed Katalina," he then told him, his voice low.

Iroh's eyes widened a bit. "You kissed her?"

"That's what I said." He got to his feet with another sigh and began pacing the room. "Everything was going so well, Uncle! We were getting along and it was just like old times. Then I had to go and be a moron and kiss her. And everything fell apart from there! We didn't talk to each other or even look at each other for the entire trip back here."

"That's a long time to go without even looking at one another."

"Uncle, please, I don't know what to do."

"Well, did you two discuss the kiss?"

"She told me that she didn't feel anything; that it meant nothing."

"And you believed her?"

"Should I not have believed her?"

He shrugged. "What about you, Zuko? What did you tell her?"

"I didn't say anything about how I felt," he admitted.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm with Mai."

"Do you still want to be? And don't say yes simply because you and Katalina are fighting again."

He let out yet another sigh. "I don't know, Uncle. I don't know what I want. And I don't know what I should do."

"You don't think Mai deserves to know the truth?"

"I care about Mai. I do. And I've already hurt her once, so I don't want to hurt her again."

"It may be a little too late for that."

"Should I tell her?"

"That's up to you."

"Aren't you supposed to help me?" he asked in reply.

Iroh was taken aback by this question. "These are your relationships, Zuko. I can't decide for you what you do about them."

He ran his fingers through his hair distressfully. "I shouldn't have asked her to come along with me, Uncle."

"And if that's how you feel then that's how you feel."

He sat back down. "But should I feel that way?"

"Only you can decide how you should feel. Not me. Not Mai. Not Katalina. Only you."

Now he nodded. "I hate everything about this, Uncle. But I really don't think Lina would forgive me this time around."

"And is she in the right or in the wrong with that?"

He swallowed hard. "I screwed it all up."

Iroh put a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "You should try to rest," he told him in response. "A man needs his rest."

Zuko smiled sheepishly. "I'll try."

He smiled back and left. Then it wasn't long before Mai came in.

"Are you feeling okay?" she checked.

"I'm fine," he assured her.

"Did Katalina try anything while you two were away?"

"No, she truly didn't."

She nodded. "I believe you."

"Thank you."

She smiled sadly. "I'll let you sleep now."

And she turned to leave, but quickly turned herself back around. She went to Zuko and leaned over to kiss him. Then she left. And he watched the door as it slid shut before he lay back on his bed.

Compared to that single kiss Zuko stole from Katalina, that kiss with Mai was nothing.


	33. Chapter Thirty-Two: Done and Over With

Katalina started to avoid everyone. She kept her distance from the Jasmine Dragon and went to places in the city she didn't typically go to. She went out of her way just to stay out of everyone else's way. Better yet, she spent her nights in the ruins of her and Jet's old apartment. That's how dedicated she was to evading all the others.

Her elusiveness couldn't last forever, though. And Iroh had managed to track her down.

"What do you want?" she greeted him.

"I want you to come back," he answered. "All of us do."

"I'm sure Mai's been perfectly content without me around."

"We're all worried about you, Katalina. No one has seen you or heard from you in over a week."

"Well, now you have. So let me be."

"I'm not going anywhere until I hear your side of the story."

"My side of the story?" she repeated.

"Zuko told me what happened."

She froze. "Oh."

"Yes. So now it's your turn to tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened," she denied.

"Katalina, he already told me—"

"Zuko and I decided to pretend it never happened," she cut him off. "So I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what happened because nothing did happen."

"Please," he said shortly.

She shook her head. "It doesn't even matter, Iroh."

"Of course it matters. So tell me the truth."

"There's nothing to tell!"

"Katalina, please, at least tell me the truth about how it made you feel."

"How it made me feel? You wanna know how the kiss made me feel? It made me feel everything I'm sure he didn't feel! And that makes me feel totally worthless." She shook her head, chuckling as she held back tears. "This whole endeavour has been completely pointless, Iroh."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because Zuko is with Mai! And even after everything that went down in the Fire Nation he's still gonna stay with her! It's like my feelings don't even matter to him!"

"He doesn't even know your true feelings," he pointed out.

"So what?"

"So he deserves to know."

"Why? Because he's all about honesty now?"

"Maybe you should sit down with Mai, then, and try talking things out with her and see where that goes."

"Talk with Mai? She hates me enough as it is! Besides, I will not be the one to tell her that Zuko kissed me."

"I'm not telling you to tell her that."

"Then I don't understand what you would have us talk about."

"You have to speak with one of them."

"I don't have to speak with anyone," she denied.

"What do you plan on doing, then?"

"About what?"

"You and Zuko."

"Oh, you mean our poisonous relationship?"

"It's not poisonous. It may be complicated, yes, but it is not poisonous. And you'll be able to figure it out."

"What makes you so sure?"

"The fact that you and Zuko have gotten through so much together already. You two remained good friends all throughout the process of his banishment. And I know you couldn't come with us when we left, but the fact that you two have come so far after three years of no contact makes me believe all the more that you will be able to go even further. I mean, if you were able to remain friends after those three long, harsh, and difficult years, then you'll be able to remain friends during these easier upcoming years."

"What makes you think they'll be any easier?"

"Because you and Zuko are together again. And trust me when I say that that will make all the difference."

"I wanna believe you, Iroh. I really do. But I just can't."

"And why not?"

"Much like Zuko is all about honesty now, he's also all about leaving the past in the past," she started. "Our friendship is in the past, Iroh. And as much as it kills me to admit that…it's the truth."

Iroh looked very saddened by this statement. "But Katalina, you two were doing so well."

She shrugged. "I thought we were, too. But I'm also wrong more often than I like to admit. And I was wrong about me and Zuko. And I'm really sorry Iroh, but I just don't want anything to do with him anymore."

"Don't you think you're being a bit rash?"

"No, I think I'm being reasonable and realistic."

"Well, you'll need to tell him all this yourself."

Now she shook her head. "I don't plan on seeing him again. So you'll have the pass the message along for me."

"Even if I tell him you don't want to see him anymore, he'll still come after you," he pointed out. "So you're better off just telling him yourself."

"This time is different, Iroh. This time he won't chase me."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I know how Zuko is."

"You don't know how he feels, though."

"I know that he chose Mai," she declared. "And I know that I refuse to compete with her."

"You don't have to compete with her."

"Yeah, I won't have to so long as I stay away. So that's exactly what I plan on doing."

"You're just gonna cut everyone off?"

"I'm done talking about this," she responded. And she began to walk away.

"Running away from your feelings isn't the same as letting them go and moving on!" Iroh called after her.

"I'm not running from anything!" Katalina called back. She then added, speaking to herself, "I'm starting anew."


	34. Chapter 33: Finding Out the Truth

More time passed and everyone continued to see less and less of Katalina. And while Zuko was actually relieved by that at first, he was beginning to hate it. He thought that not having her around would help his relationship with Mai, but it didn't make a difference. And he only ever missed seeing Katalina. He missed her to the point of feeling sick. But he knew he also felt that way because of how things had ended between them.

He hated himself for that.

"Zuko?" Mai interrupted his thoughts one night.

"Come on in," he replied, sitting up in his bed.

She entered the room and sat down beside him. "I'm worried about you," she told him. "We all are."

"I'm fine," he lied.

"I know you better than that. And I know you're far from being fine. I mean, you look pale and your eyes are bloodshot and you haven't been sleeping or eating much as of lately."

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal, Zuko! What's wrong? Please tell me!"

"If you wanna be helpful, then just leave me alone," he replied, laying back on his bed and curling up into a ball.

Mai took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "This is about Katalina, isn't it?" Her voice was low. She hadn't wanted to ask that question, but she knew the situation would come to it eventually.

Zuko sat still for a long time. He was trying to figure out the exact right words to say. That proved to be more difficult than he thought it would be. Finally, though, he sat back up. She reluctantly looked over at him, but he kept his head and his gaze down.

"I haven't been completely honest with you," he began to admit. "Or with myself, in that matter."

"What happened in the Fire Nation?" she asked for the umpteenth time since he had returned.

He sighed. "Lina meant it when she said that she never wanted to break us up or steal me from you or whatever."

"Why are you still defending her?"

"Because she deserves it. She never did anything wrong, Mai. Okay? I'm the one who messed up."

"What do you mean?"

"I kissed her," he finally told her.

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked away from him, a hurt expression spreading across her face. "You kissed her?"

He nodded. "Yeah…I did."

"And what did she do?"

"She got mad at me and stuck up for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Please, why would she do that?"

"Because she never wanted this to happen." He finally looked up at her. "She was rooting for us, Mai. She really was."

She only shook her head, keeping it turned away from him. "You know, I've been trying really hard to deny this for a really long time."

"Deny what?"

"The fact that you and Katalina are meant to be together."

He couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Trust me, we're not mean to be together at all."

"Oh, yes you are. And if you can't realise that, then…" she trailed off with a heavy sigh.

"Then what?"

Suddenly, she stood up. "I think it's time for me to leave."

"Leave?" he repeated, his head following her now. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"I mean that there's no point for me to stay here any longer."

He got to his feet as well. "You don't have to go anywhere."

"I'm not saying I have to go." She smiled sheepishly. "I just think it'd be better if I did go."

"Mai—"

"You're in love with her," she cut him off. His head dropped again. "And she's in love with you. And you two are meant to be together."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Stop saying that."

"Why?"

"Because it's not true."

"Then why did you kiss her?"

He opened his eyes again and they finally met with her gaze.

"I never meant to hurt you," he spoke up after a few long moments of silence had fallen between them

"I believe you."

"Just stay here with us."

"I can't," she denied. "I'm making the choice for you, Zuko," she then told him. "You're choosing Katalina."

"She doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Since when do you give up?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Trying to set me up with her now?"

"Because I knew this was bound to happen. I already told you that. And while it does hurt, I've still been prepared for this."

"I don't want you to hurt." He shook his head. "I went about this all the wrong way. I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to apologise."

"You have every reason to hate me."

She smiled. "I know." She kissed him and the cheek and went to leave. But Zuko grabbed her hand to stop her. "What is it?" she asked.

He thought long and hard, but no words formed in his mouth. So instead, he just let go of Mai's hand. And she hesitantly walked away. Once she was gone, he fell back onto his bed. His elbows rested on his knees while his face rested in the coverage of his hands. His mind was processing what had just happened. He was still trying to force himself to believe it all, despite the fact that he knew how he truly felt. For some reason, though, he couldn't admit it to himself.


	35. Chapter Thirty-Four: Breaking

Zuko gave himself a few more days to think before he finally decided it was time to confront Katalina. And Jet let him know exactly where he'd be able to find. So after walking the city a bit first to see if she maybe was just wandering around, he then made his way for the secret spot. And much to his luck, that's exactly where she was.

At first he just stopped and watched her as she moved back and forth, firebending in every which direction. He had always loved watching her train and practice because she moved so gracefully and confidently. Better yet, it was such a rarity for her to use her bending. That made him enjoy watching her even more. And the last thing he wanted to do now was startle her.

Soon enough, though, Katalina ended up barreling straight in Zuko. He grabbed her by her wrist to prevent her from hitting him, and the proceeded to wrap his free arm around her waist and pull her close to him. She gasped at the sudden contact, opening her eyes again.

"Now I understand how you managed to burn your hand," he stated.

Her eyes were wide for a moment. Then she scowled and shoved him away from her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? How did you even know to find me here?"

"Jet told me about this place."

"Jet told you?" She shook her head. "That little bastard."

"Lina," he said, taking a step toward her. She took a step away from him. "Hey, c'mon." He reached for her hand.

She pulled away from him and continued to take steps back. "What do you want from me?"

He followed after her. "I just want to talk to you."

"Stop!" she shouted, still keeping a good distance between them. "Stop coming any closer! You can talk to me from right there."

"No, please, I'm trying to reach you."

"And you can reach me from right there!"

"Why do you feel the need to always push me away when things get tough?" he questioned. "I've only ever tried to be helpful to you!"

"We don't need to be any closer," she denied. "Just say whatever it is you wanna say and leave."

He shook his head. "Not like this."

"This is all you're getting," she stated. "So talk."

"Lina—" he started, taking a couple steps towards her.

"Talk!" she yelled, moving away from him again.

He sighed, giving in. He sifted one of his hands into his hair and pulled at it a bit. Not that she was right in front of him, he was at a loss for words.

"If you're just gonna stand there playing with your hair, then go do that someplace else."

"I lied to you," he admitted in response, deciding the best course of action would just be to come out with it.

"Oh? Mr. Honesty lied?"

"Cut the shit, Lina. You lied, too."

"Is that so?" She folded her arms across her chest. "And what did I allegedly lie about?"

"The kiss."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"What could you have lied about?"

"I wanted to kiss you, Lina!" he told her. "I mean, I hadn't planned it, but it's not like I regretted it either." He shrugged his shoulders." I wanted to kiss you." Now he paused." And I've wanted to kiss you again ever since."

She was shaking her head. "No…no, that's not fair. You can't just come here and say that to me."

"And why not?"

"Because the kiss didn't mean anything, Zuko!"

"Bull. Shit."

She pursed her lips, still shaking her head. "You're not being fair."

"How am I not being fair?"

She swallowed hard. "Know what really sucks?" She laughed, holding back tears. "That kiss was seriously everything I imagined it would be…but nothing can come of it."

His head dropped. "See? I knew you lied, too."

"At least I had a good reason. You didn't. Nor do you have a good reason to be here and saying all of this to me now."

"How do you know?"

"I know you, Zuko. And I'm done with you."

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow that."

"Really? You can't allow it?" She shook her head again, dropping her arms back down by her side. "Well, that's a damn shame."

Katalina went to move past Zuko to walk away. Before she could get far, though, he took hold of her hand. And she reacted very quickly.

"Don't touch me!" she practically screamed.

"I'm not letting you walk away from this!" he yelled back.

"You can't keep me here," she replied. "Oh, and be sure to say hi to your girlfriend for me," she then said. And she ran.

"Lina, wait!" he called after her.

He chased her. He had to let her know everything before she could get to far away from him. And he was mad at himself all over again for not telling her right away that he and Mai were history. That should've been the first thing out of his mouth. Once he caught up to her, though, it would be. That would be the first thing he would tell her. But he still needed to catch her.

He ran into Jet instead.

"Whoa!" Jet exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"Did you see Lina? Did she run by you?"

"No. Why?"

"Damn it!" He fell to the ground, exhausted. "I lost her."

"Have you been chasing her this entire time?"

"No, I got to talk with her a little."

"And what happened?"

"She hates me, Jet."

"I doubt she hates you. If anything, she's just mad at herself."

He paused, still catching his breath. "I don't know what to do."

"You don't give up on her," he replied. He reached his hand out for Zuko. He took it and Jet helped him back to his feet. "Lina's in love with you," he then told him in declaration. "That's why she's acting this way."

"What if she really is done with me, though?"

"Shut up."

He chuckled a bit at this. "Well, I'm definitely not giving up on her." He looked in the direction she had been running. "I would never do that."


	36. Chapter 35: Picking Up the Pieces

Katalina didn't know where exactly she was running to. She was just running. All she wanted was to get away from Zuko. Why, though? Why did she keep running from him? As much as she hated to admit it, he was right; she was pushing herself away from him. That's what she did best.

Then she found herself nearing the Jasmine Dragon. She didn't turn away from it this time, though. Something was telling her to keep going. Before she could walk in, though, Mai walked out.

"Mai!" she exclaimed out of shock.

"Hi Katalina," she said. She shifted a bag she was holding from one hand and into the other.

"Are you going somewhere?" she questioned, noticing the movement.

"Didn't Zuko find you?" she asked in reply.

"Are you always going to ignore me?"

"That's not what I was doing. I just figured he would have told you."

"Told me that?"

"I'm leaving."

"You're—what?"

"He did find you, right?"

"Yes, he found me and we talked. But what do you mean you're leaving?"

"I mean just that. I can't stay here any longer. It's time for me to go. So I'm taking my leave."

"I-I don't understand."

"Did you even let Zuko say what he needed to say?"

She shook her head. "I have no idea what's going on anymore."

Mai laughed at this. "You didn't let him tell you anything," she realised. "Zuko told me the truth."

"The truth?" she repeated.

"He told me that he kissed you while you two were in the Fire Nation."

"And you didn't try to blame it on me?"

She dropped her head. "Yeah…I wanted to apologise for that. My behaviour and attitude towards you has been way out of line. I guess I was just trying to prevent this from happening, but I've known from the beginning that Zuko would end up with you."

"We're not gonna end up together," she denied. "It's too late for that."

"You're wrong."

"Don't tell me I'm wrong."

"You can lie to yourself all you want, Katalina, but that won't fix anything. Lying will only make the truth hurt more. Trust me, I would know. I've been lying to myself this entire time. I've been telling myself that it's just all in my head and that we weren't competing for Zuko—"

"We weren't competing," she denied.

"You're right. It wasn't a competition because I never even stood a chance against you."

"Mai…"

"I'm okay," she assured her. "I really am. I'm leaving and I'm gonna meet back up with Ty Lee. And the next time we visit the city, you and Zuko better be happy together."

"What if we're not?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I have to get going," she then stated. She began to walk away, but stopped and added, "I'm sorry about everything."

She then stood and watched as Mai disappeared into the city. "I'm sorry, too," she said to herself.

After waiting just a couple more seconds, Katalina finally made her way into the Jasmine Dragon. She headed straight into the backroom where obviously everyone was.

Everyone except Zuko and Jet.

"What the hell is wrong with your nephew?" she questioned Iroh.

"Excuse me?" he responded.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" she repeated. "He's all about being honest and letting go of the past, but he's yet to learn how to make up his damn mind! Rather than confusing himself he seems to be confusing everyone else! Especially me! He can't keep playing games with me, though! It's not fair!"

"Lina, what are you talking about?" Jin asked instead.

"He lied to me!"

"You lied to him, too," Yolanda pointed out. "So you two are even."

"That's not how it works."

"Oh, so only you are able to lie about your feelings? Is that how it works?" Shion wondered.

"Are you actually taking his side?" Katalina asked in reply.

"We're not taking anyone's side," Hakara denied. "Neither of you are being very reasonable anyway."

"He isn't being fair!" she repeated.

"You're not being very fair to him, either," Iroh stated.

She turned to face him. "I'm only protecting myself," she admitted. "From the very beginning that's all I've been trying to do."

"And what are you protecting yourself from, Katalina? Zuko or you?"

She stopped, thinking long and hard. But she was unable to come up with a good enough answer.

"If you think he would hurt you," Iroh then started, speaking up again, "then you must not know my nephew after all."

She shook her head. "He's already hurt me," she claimed, holding back tears.

"I think you're hurting yourself."

"No." she denied, practically choking on the word.

"He's in love with you, Katalina," he declared. "And you're in love—"

"No!" she repeated, shouting now. She swallowed hard. "I'm not in love with him." Her voice cracked.

"Is that so?"

"It is," she confirmed. "I can't be."

"And why not?" he wondered.

"Because things have changed," she began. "We're different people now. And I feel awful about this whole thing with Mai. She and Zuko were good together until I came along. And because…he's not being fair." She was running out of reasons. "We're just not mean to be together."

"You've already used all of these excuses," he pointed out. "You can't use them anymore, though. They don't make sense anymore."

"You've run out of arguments, Lina," a male voice said from behind. She turned to see Zuko standing at the door leading to the backroom. "Don't you realise that?" He stepped towards her. "So why are you still fighting this?"

She shook her head again. "If this is what comes after war…then I don't want it," she replied. She went to leave, but he stopped her. "Don't touch me!" she yelled, yanking her hand out of his grasp. "I don't want anything to do with you. Don't you realise that?" And she ran again.

She didn't get far, though.

"Let me go, Jet."

"You're not going anywhere," he denied. "This isn't helping, Lina. You need to face him and tell him the truth."

"He doesn't deserve to know."

She managed to shove past him and ran out of the teashop. Once again, she didn't know where she was running to.

Meanwhile, Zuko was still standing in the same spot. He was watching the door, hoping that Katalina would come bursting back through. But Jet walked through instead.

"I couldn't stop her," he told him. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. "This is getting so out of hand."

"Are you really just gonna let her go?" Suki wondered.

"What am I supposed to do? She's made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Yeah, she's also made it clear that she lies. A lot." Toph added. "Trust me, I would know better than any of you."

"You have to go after her," Katara stated.

"Definitely," Aang agreed. "Don't give up on her."

"What's the point?" Zuko asked.

"You know," Sokka started, stepping up to him, "running seems to be what Lina does best. And as far as I'm concerned, the thing you do best," he paused, a smug smile spreading across his face, "is chase."

He couldn't help but to laugh at this. "I'm gonna let that slide," he replied as he made his was for the door.

He laughed as well. "Go get her, jackass!" he called out, pushing him towards the door jokingly.

And Zuko ran. And he ran for Katalina.


	37. Chapter 36: The Firelight Fountain

The first place Zuko thought to look was back at Katalina's secret place. When he got there, though, he found that she wasn't there. So he started running in the direction she had run earlier when she had been trying to get away from him. He had no idea where it would lead him or if it would just take him in circles, but he didn't care at this point. All he cared about was tracking her down. And he knew that she couldn't run forever.

Then he began seeing familiar surroundings. He feared that this path actually was bringing him back to the teashop. Except the surroundings he saw weren't familiar enough. He recognised them, but he didn't see them everyday.

So why did they look so familiar?

When he came to a fountain, he knew exactly where he was.

And sitting on the edge with her back facing him was Katalina.

"You know," he announced his presence, causing her to freeze, "I've been here one other time," he went on. "It was with Jin, actually, when we had our date. She took me here at the end of the night. Except when we got here, none of the lanterns were lit like they are now. She was really upset by that, too. So I told her to close her eyes and I discreetly lit them all myself. And then she was happy."

She turned around to face him now, but remained seated. And to his surprise, she was smiling. "You risked getting caught for her," she stated.

"I'd risk a lot more for you," he replied. She blushed at this and stood up. He took her hands in his. "You're not trying to get away from me."

"What's the point?" She looked up at him. "You'll always come after me anyway, won't you?"

He smiled back. "I'm glad you know that."

"I ran into Mai before she left," she then told him, her gaze dropping back to the ground. "I'm sorry I didn't give you the chance to actually talk to me."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you first off that Mai had broken up with me."

"We're really bad at this, aren't we?"

"We can get better."

She nodded. "If I ever stop turning every conversation into an argument."

"Hey, you don't do that all the time," he pointed out in denial. "We've had a lot of nice conversations since we met again."

"But we've had mostly arguments."

"Don't start with me, Lina."

"See? I'm doing it again."

"You do it on purpose," he declared. "And that's the one thing about you I can't seem to figure out. I mean, I just can't figure out why."

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know, either."

He chuckled at this. "You're unbelievable, Lina."

"I'm sorry…"

"No, you don't have to apologise. Looking at me would be nice, though."

And that was when she realised that her head and gaze were still down. She had gotten distracted by their hands. She had started playing with his. She traced each of his fingers individually. She traced over every line and curve. Then he took his hands back and lightly traced them up her arms until his hands were cupping her cheeks. He tilted her head up so that she would look at him. He was smiling softly and it caused her heart to skip a beat. And then he leaned into her…

And she pushed him away.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. And she went to walk away.

"Please don't do this, Lina!" he called after her.

"Do what? Protect you?"

"Protect me? I thought you were protecting yourself."

"I don't know what I'm doing, Zuko."

"Then stop walking away and let's figure it out together."

She shook her head. "I'm scared," she then admitted.

He nodded. "Me too."

She swallowed hard. "And I lied to you."

Now he smiled again. "I know."

Before another word could be spoken, Zuko closed the distance between them and he kissed her. And finally, Katalina kissed him back. Then she couldn't help but to blush once they broke apart.

"You really think this is a smart idea?" she checked with him.

"No," he answered honestly. "I think we are going to drive each other absolutely crazy." He paused. "But I wouldn't want to go insane with anyone else."

She laughed. "Agreed."

"Better yet, I told you that I would always be there to catch you when you fall," he added. "I'm keeping that promise."

"Good…because I'm falling."

His smile returned. "Would you like to dance?" he then asked.

"But there's no music."

"Not like music's gonna make me any better."

She laughed even more. "I would love to dance."

And so the two of them began to just dance around the fountain to the silence that had filled the peaceful the air. Her arms were wrapped around his neck while his arms were wrapped around her waist. And they stayed just like that, losing track of the time.

Until Zuko spoke up again.

"Maybe we should head back," he suggested. "I wouldn't want the others to get too worried."

"What would they get worried about?" she wondered.

"They might think you killed me."

She laughed again. "I would never take such drastic measures."

He smiled back. "C'mon, let's just go." He turned to leave, keeping hold of her hand. He started walking away, but she wouldn't come with him. "Lina, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," she denied.

"Then come on." He walked again, but she still wouldn't budge. "Lina, what the hell?" He laughed. A wide smile spread across her face. "Oh no. What are you planning?"

"Nothing," she repeated.

He eyed her skeptically. Then he realised where they were standing and his eyes widened. "Lina, I swear, if you even think—"

Before he could finish, though, she pulled him forward as she leaned back. And they both went tumbling into the fountain.

"What is it with you and water?" he questioned.

She laughed again before rolling half on top of him. "That's twice now I've been able to take you down."

"Because I wasn't prepared either time."

"Just admit that I'm stronger than you."

Instead of replying, he lifted his head and kissed her again.

"Let's go home," she said once he pulled away.

So they climbed out of the fountain and finally made their way back to the teashop. Most of the walk was spent in silence, but they continued to hold each other close. And for the first time in a long time, they both felt content.

"Tell me, again, the difference between just loving someone, and then being in love with someone," she spoke up.

He smiled, halting the walk. He rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. "The Fire Nation isn't my future, Lina. You are." He paused. "I'm in love with you."

She smiled back before kissing him another time. "Good answer," she said after they broke apart. "You know," she then started, "everyone's gonna think we're together now because of this."

He laughed. "Let them think what they want."


	38. Epilogue: The Journey Ahead

Zuko was in his room gathering some of his belongings to take with him on the long trip ahead. He didn't know what he may or may not need, so he decided to bring along only what he felt to be the most important things to him. After all, he didn't know when he would be seeing this room again.

"Are you about ready to get going?" Katalina checked with him from behind. He turned to see her standing in the doorway. "Well?"

"I'm not so sure about this anymore," he admitted in reply.

"What? C'mon Zuko, we've been planning this for the last four months. Don't you want to find your mother?"

"Of course I do. But really, what are the chances?"

"Ozai told you where she is, so that's where we'll go to look."

"What are the chances of actually finding her, though?" he asked again.

"What were the chances of us meeting again?" she asked in response. "Zuko, if this is about the changes you've gone through since the last time you saw your mother then you shouldn't be worrying about that. She loved you before the scar and she will love you now, after the scar."

"I'm just afraid of what she might think of me."

"She won't think any different of you. If anything she'll be even more proud of you now than she was before she left."

"Why do you think that?"

She smiled, shrugging. "I just know it."

He sighed. "Well, you're ready, right?" he then checked. "I mean, no matter what happens now, we're still returning to the Fire Nation after this trip."

"I'm well aware," she stated. "I've said goodbye to Jet and Jin and Yolanda and Hakara and Shion. And they've all promised to visit us as soon as they hear we've settled there."

He nodded. "Good." He looked down. "Ugh, I can't believe we're really doing this."

"Zuko, you know that I love you, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I love you, too, Lina."

She smiled again. "And that's all that really matters. Sure, finding your mother would obviously be great, but even if we don't or even if she doesn't accept you anymore, we will still have each other. And we'll still have Iroh and all our friends, too."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right," she confirmed. "I'm Katalina Palmer, damn it." He laughed and so did she. "So are you ready to go? Or do you wanna call it off?"

"No, I-I still wanna go," he decided.

"Good," she said shortly. "Let's head out, then." She turned to leave.

"Before we go," he said, taking her hand to stop her and pulling her into him, still smiling, "thank you for everything, Katalina."

Her smile returned. "You don't have to thank me for anything, Zuko."

Then he kissed her and she kissed him back. And in that perfect kiss was a promise of forever.


End file.
